A series of structural monetary policy measures rolled out since the beginning of this year have delivered tangible results, helping create a favorable monetary and financial environment for stable economic growth, high-quality development, and smooth operation of financial markets in the first half of the year, said a senior official from the People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, in Beijing on Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference, Zou Lan, deputy governor of the central bank, introduced the implementation of monetary policies and financial statistics in the first half of this year.
"First, ample liquidity in the banking system has been maintained. The central bank utilized multiple monetary policy tools, including reverse repos, medium-term lending facilities (MLF), and treasury bond trading, to ensure sufficient liquidity. In the first half of the year, the fund injected through the central bank's various tools effectively offset a 1-trillion-yuan (about 147.69 billion U.S. dollars) liquidity gap caused by factors, such as reserve requirement payments and cash issuance. The average overnight interbank repo rate for depository institutions (DR001) over the first six months stood at 1.31 percent, indicating overall stable operation," he said.
"Second, the overall cost of social financing has been kept at a low level. The interest rate on structural monetary policy tools was cut by 0.25 percentage points at the beginning of the year. Efforts to disclose the comprehensive financing costs of corporate loans are being continuously advanced, reducing intermediary financing expenses," he continued.
The PBOC also strengthened financial support for key sectors, Zou said, noting that the central bank has added the quota of the relending facility for technological innovation and upgrading and the relending facility for agriculture and small businesses.
"The stable operation of financial markets has also been maintained. Recently, a pilot program for offshore Renminbi forex trading was launched in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, allowing the headquarters of six banks to directly conduct Renminbi foreign exchange transactions with overseas entities, promoting integration between onshore and offshore markets. The central bank continues to implement the two monetary policy tools to further support the smooth operation of the capital market," Zou further stated.
Structural policies support steady economic growth, financial market stability in H1: central bank
Rally participants gathered in the Japanese capital on Aug 9, which also marked the 81st anniversary of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, to voice strong opposition to the government's push to boost defense spending and revise the war-renouncing Article 9 of the national Constitution.
Holding anti-war placards, chanting anti-war slogans, protesters warned that remilitarizing the nation would betray its pacifist ideals and endanger future generations.
"Defense spending keeps increasing. Based on Article 9 of the Constitution, Japan pledged never to wage war again, yet it keeps strengthening its military. I find this extremely dangerous. They are also trying to revise Article 9. So I believe that for the sake of future young people and children, Article 9 must never be revised. Japan decided never to repeat the mistakes of waging a war after its defeat in WWII. I think we should continue to safeguard that commitment," said a rally participant.
For many in the crowd, the shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains a powerful moral compass as they believe that militarization offers no path forward for a nation that knows the devastation of war firsthand.
"Japan is the only country in the world to have suffered atomic bombings. Yet now Japan is going to deploy missiles. I believe Japan must never possess nuclear weapons," said another rally participant.
"I believe Japan has no future if it goes down the path of militarization. Nuclear weapons are absolutely bad for Japan," said a third woman, also a rally participant.
Beyond moral objections, some demonstrators said that Japan's economic vulnerabilities articulate that saber-rattling is a luxury the country cannot afford.
"I can't help but wonder what on earth a country with only a 36 percent food self-sufficiency rate would be fighting with. I have always been opposed to war, and I'm deeply dissatisfied with what the Takaichi administration is doing now," said another rally participant.
Other rally participants said that seeing revision of the Constitution could unleash unchecked military expansion, stripping away the very safeguards that have kept Japan at peace for eight decades.
"Article 9 of the Constitution is the key. If the nature of the Self-Defense Forces is elevated to a level beyond collective self-defense, which is explicitly written into the Constitution, it will allow the authority of the Self-Defense Forces to expand without limit. So no matter what, I want to prevent this from happening," said one more rally participant.
Japanese citizens rally against Takaichi's military expansion, constitutional revision
