Japan Post, which holds a quarter of the nation's savings, will have to compete with banks, insurers and other deposit-takers starting in 2007, said Heizo Takenaka, minister for economy and fiscal policy.
"We'll be privatizing Japan Post in 2007," Takenaka said on state-run NHK television.
"Privatizing means that it has to compete completely on its own with the private sector," Takenaka said.
Japan Post, which doesn't pay any taxes, will have to compete like any other bank or insurer in the country for the benefit of the public, Takenaka said, without giving details. The state-run service, which combines mail delivery with selling insurance and government-guaranteed savings, may have to break up, said Japan's guild of corporate executives.
monopoly
Japan Post "is too big" and is almost a monopoly, said Kakutaro Kitashiro, the chairman of IBM Japan Ltd and also head of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives. Unless its businesses are split up, "the private sector won't be able to compete," he said.
Japan's postal service held ?208 trillion (US$1.91 trillion) of savings at the end of March, ?124 trillion of insurance policies, ?110 trillion of government bonds -- and it operates more branches than the nation's banks.
It must be sold because its inefficiencies are costing the public, said the 53-year old Takenaka, who has been leading the government's push to turn Japan Post into a private company.
The Japanese Bankers Association, a group representing the nation's lenders, proposed in February that Japan Post terminate some of its deposit-taking services, limit the amount of savings it can take and discontinue offering loans.
taxes
The government may end its policy of exempting the postal service from paying taxes and may alter its collection of insurance premiums, the Nikkei English News said in March.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been planning to reorganize and sell Japan Post since he came into office in 2001.
Takenaka did not provide any details on how the sale of Japan Post would take place.
The nation's post offices will remain, he said.
The public wants the postal service to improve its services, extend the hours of the post office outlets and cut costs, Takenaka said.
"We have to clarify what demands there are from the public toward the postal savings service, what abilities Japan Post has in the area and secure a business model that can endure," he said on the NHK program.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
RSS