Japanese PM announces reshuffling LDP leadership, cabinet

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who also heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), announced Tuesday that she will reshuffle the party's executive lineup on Wednesday and her cabinet on Thursday, Jiji Press reported.

The announcement was made at a meeting of LDP executives held at the party's headquarters in Tokyo.

China's high-tech industry investment grew 5.2 percent year on year from January to August, as AI, electric vehicle batteries, and equipment upgrades drew increasing capital, said spokeswoman of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Wang Guanhua at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

"In the first eight months, high-tech industry investment rose 5.2 percent year on year, 0.2 percentage points faster than that in the January-July period. This marks the third consecutive month of cumulatively paced-up growth, indicating that, under the dual driven force of policy guidance and market demand, local governments are stepping up efforts to develop emerging and future industries, and the trend of investment focusing on new growth areas is becoming increasingly evident," she said.

"By sector, rapid growth in core AI technologies and application demand has driven companies to increase investment in related industrial chains. Investment in the electronic specialty materials manufacturing and integrated circuit manufacturing sectors rose 8.5 percent and 12.0 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, the expansion of the new energy vehicle industry, combined with strong market demand for energy storage, drove investment in lithium-ion battery manufacturing up 20.6 percent," she said.

In addition to the sector breakdown, Wang pointed to the continued effects of the large-scale equipment renewal policy.

"Meanwhile, the effects of the large-scale equipment renewal policy continued to show, with enterprises more willing to upgrade equipment and accelerate transformation. In the first eight months, investment in equipment purchases rose 9.3 percent year on year, 0.3 percentage points higher than that in the January-July period, accounting for 19.5 percent of total investment," said Wang.