Another of the senior lawmakers in the Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has called for the urgent development of the digital yen so that Japan can compete with China in this sector.

Kozo Yamamoto, more exactly, said on February 10 that Japan should create its own digital currency in 2 or 3 years. As reported by Reuters at the same date, Yamamoto thinks the government mid-year guidelines should include plans for creating a central bank digital currency (CBDC). He also mentioned the country should create the digital yen faster, in an attempt to compete with China’s own CBDC, which is about to be launched this year. Here are his exact words:

“The sooner the better. We’ll draft proposals to be included in government’s policy guidelines, and hopefully make it happen in two-to-three years. […] If each country manages to control flows of money with their own (digital) currencies, that could prevent a big swing at a time of crisis and stabilize their own economy.”

Yamamoto’s comments come soon after the LDP ruling member and former minister of economy Akira Amari said he wants the issuance of a CBDC in Japan to happen as a means to counter China’s soon-to-be launched digital yuan. Yamamoto also mentioned that while CBDCs are able to undermine the green supremacy of the US dollar, they can also be stabilizing for dollar-centered markets like the one in Cambodia.

The lawmakers in Japan have last week pushed a proposal for the government in which they’re asking that digital currencies are included in this year’s G-7 agenda. Besides, at the end of last month, Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) deputy governor said the institution he’s running should be ready to create a CBDC in case there’s a public demand for technical financial development. In the meantime, China doesn’t waste any time and has already created the top-layer design for the digital yuan, not to mention it has completed the joint testing for it.

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