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Are Japan’s bonds out of control and dragging Taiwan down? Hsieh Chin-ho pushes back

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Analysis Named sources Context piece
  • Taiwanese financial commentator Hsieh Chin-ho rejected online claims that Japan is nearing economic collapse or that its currency and government bonds could drag Taiwan down.
  • He cited movements in the Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, South Korean won and Taiwan dollar, along with Japan’s 10-year bond yield reaching 3.01%.
  • Hsieh said Japan appears to be moving from deflation toward inflation, while falling Chinese bond yields point to a possible deflationary cycle in China.

“The real test is in China, not Japan,” Hsieh Chin-ho said, pushing back against a fresh wave of gloomy online commentary about Japan’s economy.

In a Facebook post titled “Who keeps throwing stones at Japan?”, the chairman of Taiwan’s Ctimes Media Group listed claims that Japan was close to bankruptcy, that the country was collapsing, and that an uncontrolled yen and bond market could pull Taiwan down with it. Hsieh said similar arguments had appeared around Japan’s previous two interest-rate increases and suggested that someone appeared determined to attack Japan’s economic prospects.

He compared recent movements in Asian currencies. The renminbi rose sharply from 7.35 to 6.707, while the South Korean won moved from a low of 1,587.68 to 1,352.73. The yen reached 163.97, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent intervened, according to Hsieh’s account. Taiwan’s dollar also strengthened from 32.528 to 31.568. Market commentary often describes yen depreciation as a collapse, he said, even though Japan’s currency has moved through much wider swings over the decades.

The real test is in China, not Japan!

— Hsieh Chin-hoHe used the statement to contrast Japan’s move away from deflation with China’s falling bond yields.

Hsieh argued that yen weakness around 150 to 160 has helped Japanese exporters and improved corporate competitiveness. He linked the Nikkei index’s rise above 70,000 partly to that exchange-rate environment, while acknowledging that weaker purchasing power hurts domestic consumers. He said the Japanese government had effectively sacrificed consumption to reverse the economy’s long decline.

The clearest signal, in his view, comes from bond yields. Japan’s 10-year government bond yield has reached 3.01%, returning to a level last seen in 1995, while China’s 10-year yield has fallen to 1.684%. Hsieh presented the contrast as evidence that Japan has formally moved beyond deflation and into a new inflationary period, whereas China may be approaching the deflationary cycle Japan once experienced.

Who keeps throwing stones at Japan?

— Hsieh Chin-hoTitle of his Facebook post criticizing renewed pessimistic commentary about Japan.
About this summary

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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