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The politics of international finance for coal power plants have intensified since the 2015 Paris climate agreement was negotiated. Over the past few years, Japan and South Korea have signaled their intent not to fund new coal projects overseas, leaving China and its Belt and Road Initiative as the 'financier of last resort.' In September 2021, China too announced its intent to stop providing finance for overseas coal projects. What accounts for their decision to cease financing overseas coal projects despite prominent differences in political systems, degree of internationalization of their financial systems, and economic size? Drawing on datasets of coal projects and financing supplemented by case material and interviews, this paper explores the dynamics of coal export finance and how the combination of international reputational pressures and declining demand for coal finance diminished the domestic support for incumbent coal exporters in all three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to investigate the current status of read-across approaches in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and China in terms of applications and regulatory acceptance. In the Republic of Korea, over the last 6 years, approximately 8% of safety data records used for chemical registrations were based upon read-across, and a guideline published on the use of read-across results in 2017. In Japan, read-across is generally accepted for screening hazard classification of toxicological endpoints according to the Chemical Substances Control Law (CSCL). In China, read-across data, along with data from other animal alternatives are accepted as a data source for chemical registrations, but could be only considered when testing is not technically feasible. At present, read-across is not widely used for chemical registrations and regulatory acceptance of read-across may differ among countries in Asia. With consideration of the advantages and limitations of read-across, it is expected that read-across may soon gradually be employed in Asian countries. Thus, regulatory agencies need to prepare for this progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines defense industrialization in three leading arms-producing states in Asia - India, Japan, and South Korea - and how their experiences compare to China's recent defense industrial developments. It argues that despite decades of considerable effort and investments in pursuit of a techno-nationalist self-arming strategy, these countries have experienced only modest success when it comes to achieving such self-reliance. Most regional defense industrial bases lack the necessary design skills and technological expertise in order to truly innovate, and at best these countries act as 'late innovators' when it comes to armaments production. The experiences of these countries have lessons for China as it attempts to move into the first tier of arms-producing states. China has over the past 15 years made significant progress in modernizing its defense technological and industrial base. At the same time, China faces the same long-term challenges that currently confront other regional arms industries - that is, making techno-nationalism work at the later stages of innovation. This is particularly critical as China's defense industry strives to move from a basically platform-centric to an increasingly network-centric technological-industrial process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid rise of competitive space activities within Asia, this study examines the prospects for increasing international cooperation. After discussing relevant conceptual issues, it surveys the space policies particularly of China, India, Japan, and South Korea and examines the skewed patterns of cooperation seen at the international, regional, and bilateral levels. It then analyzes the historical, technology, and political factors that have impeded, especially regional, space cooperation in Asia to date. The study concludes that expanded regional space cooperation is an unlikely near-term outcome, but the paper also argues that the risks entailed in the current situation are growing and that US policy initiatives could make a difference in helping to lead countries out of this dead-end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scale of development and deployment of open source software (OSS) in the three Northeast Asian countries-China, Japan, and South Korea-is large enough to be noticed at the global level. OSS has redefined the dynamics of software markets in the three countries and has brought significant structural changes in their software industries. Governments have played a pivotal role in the development of OSS industry in the region. Governments in the three countries have also created impetus for continental collaborations in OSS projects. This paper examines the roles and contributions of governments to the OSS initiative in the three countries in terms of a number of technology visions and goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]