TOKYO -- Nikkei will stop publishing the Nikkei JASDAQ Stock Average after April 1, 2022.

Its move follows the Tokyo Stock Exchange's planned termination of the JASDAQ market, which will trade until April 1, as part of the exchange's reforms.

(Nikkei)

TOKYO -- U.S. investment giant BlackRock will launch a 55 billion yen ($495 million) fund aimed at developing infrastructure for the transportation of green energy in emerging markets, including renewable energy, Nikkei has learned.

The fund, which will be created in collaboration with government agencies and private financial institutions from Japan, Germany, and France, will seek to encourage developing countries to accelerate initiatives to tackle climate change.

Under the name of "Climate Finance Partnership," the fund will target investments

TAIPEI -- Taiwan's Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant 2 reactor 1 shut down last week, six months before its scheduled retirement on Dec. 27 due to spent fuel-storage capacity constraints that prevent it from being refueled.

The closure of the reactor marks another milestone in the island's energy transition, a key initiative of President Tsai Ing-wen. Her administration aims to shut down all of Taiwan's nuclear reactors by mid-2025 and replace their power with huge swathes of renewable energy

HONG KONG -- Chinese officials vowed on Monday to press on with remaking Hong Kong, declaring the national security law Beijing imposed on the former British colony a year ago a success.

"This is a long and arduous task, and there is still plenty of work to be done," said Chen Dong, vice director of Beijing's official representative office in the city, at a Hong Kong Department of Justice forum on the security law. "There needs to be a clear understanding as forces that are anti-

Gedaliah Afterman heads the Asia Policy Program at the Abba Eban Institute for International Diplomacy. Tomer Raanan is a research assistant at the Asia Policy Program.

Despite Israel's efforts to distance itself from the intensifying strategic rivalry between the United States and China, it could soon find itself, reluctantly and against its interests, increasingly used as a pawn in this contest.

During the recent armed conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant organization that effectively controls Gaza, in May, China proved unusually vocal in its support for the

TOKYO -- Ahead of the mid-June G-7 leaders' summit in Cornwall, England, the Japanese and South Korean governments arranged for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and President Moon Jae-in -- who had been invited as a guest -- to meet.

The South Korean side understood it to be an informal meeting, and the Japanese prepared accordingly. However, the tenuous understanding collapsed at the last minute with serious implications for the next possible step at the Tokyo Olympics, which are scheduled to open on July

TOKYO -- Japanese companies are starting to accelerate their overseas expansion, with the value of outbound mergers and acquisitions surging in the second quarter to nearly six times the amount recorded during its pandemic low.

Japan Inc. logged 182 deals during the April-June period, up 56% from a year ago, with total value jumping 455% to hit 2.16 trillion yen ($19 billion), according to data from M&A consultancy Recof.

The pick-up in

BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping used the occasion of the Communist Party's 100th anniversary to hail economic achievements and lay out China's ambitions without failing to warn foreign rivals from interfering in the country's domestic affairs.

The CCP's centenary on July 1 was deemed so important that his government in Beijing mobilized some 70,000 people to gather at the capital's Tiananmen Square for a 90-minute event.

Founded by 13 leaders including Mao Zedong in

TOKYO -- Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has developed an offshore wind turbine able to withstand strong winds, aiming to deliver it to typhoon-prone Japan and other parts of Asia, executives told Nikkei in interviews.

Each unit, with a 200-meter diameter, can generate 11 megawatts, and the blades can resist winds of up to 57 meters per second.

Siemens Gamesa recently obtained certification from the International Electrotechnical Commission for the turbine and seeks to have a 14 MW model certified as well, said