Japanese universities have been asked to provide the details of foreign nationals working in sensitive areas of science and technology as part of a tighter screening of students and researchers pledged by the newly created minister for economic security.

According to the people involved, the enhanced scrutiny, is one of several measures introduced by Tokyo in response to growing technology nationalism among foreign competitors and heightened concerns that Japanese research was flowing too easily to China and elsewhere.

The move to collect better information on research institutions comes as the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office in October, has vowed to tighten control over foreign investment under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act — rules that were already strengthened by a 2020 revision of the law.

The information-gathering exercise, which is being conducted by the ministry of education and the ministry of economy, trade and industry, foreshadows new guidelines for universities and research institutes. The new rules will oblige them to provide greater levels of disclosure and tighter control over the potential outflow of research in order to continue receiving funding.

A government report released this year showed that only 48 percent of private Japanese universities have regulations that include screening of prospective students. Only a third of private universities said they had warned students against returning home using sensitive technologies.

Staff at three Japanese universities described the Financial Times’ latest poll as requiring far more detail than the government’s usual annual fact-finding about numbers of foreign students. Additional details centered on the specific areas of science and technology in which foreign students and researchers participated.

A senior staff member at a private university said that the approach from government researchers was known about in early December and that the emphasis of the survey had clearly been on security, with an apparent focus on closing the routes that allow sensitive information to leave Japan.

In an interview soon after the role was created, Kobayashi told the Financial Times that his mission was to nurture vital technologies so that the international community “cannot survive without Japan”.

Image courtesy: Bloomberg