Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday Tokyo will take appropriate action against excessive, speculative yen rises that could hurt the country’s export-reliant companies.
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The North East was a year ago described as the “second home” of Japanese manufacturing, with the establishment of the Nissan factory in 1986 being followed by firms such as Komatsu, Nifco, Hitachi and Vantec.
Pro-EU campaigners say inward investment into regions like the North East is dependent on the country remaining in Europe.
Abe is not the first foreign leader to visit Britain and voice support for it staying in the EU.
“The EU is the biggest trade entity in the world, Japan is the third largest economy, it is also a big democracy in Asia, so you can cooperate on all aspects”, Silviu Jora, from the EU Delegation to Japan, told reporter Danuta Isler.
“About 1,000 Japanese companies operate in the United Kingdom, employing 140,000 people”. Many are based there, he added, “precisely because [Britain] is a gateway to the European Union”.
The EU and Japan launched negotiations in March 2013 and held a 16th round of talks in Japan last month.
“A vote to leave would make the United Kingdom less attractive as a destination for Japanese investment”, Abe told reporters at a press conference. “The UK has a voice because it is in the European Union”. The Japanese leader added: “Britain’s friends around the world, including Japan, will be watching your decision on 23 June with very close attention”. However, more than 70 years after the end of World War II, there remains no official peace treaty between the two countries.
Matthew Elliott, the chief executive of Vote Leave campaign, said he did not accept Mr Abe’s “do as I say, not as we do attitude”.
While Abe said that European Union membership was a matter for the British people, he added that Japanese interests were also at stake in the referendum. “It’s now clear that leaving would put that at risk”.
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Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe leaves 10 Downing Street in London, after a meeting with Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, Thursday, May 5, 2016.
