Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman's mission to Japan and China is being described by analysts as an important one and a top priority for prospective business. Saudi Arabia's growing interest in this part of the world is translation of a new reality. The continuous rise of some of the states in the Far East continues at the same pace as it happened in Japan in the 1970s. Japan, taking a breather after its defeat in the World War II, rebuilt its base of trade and industry by implementing a business model called "Sogo Shosha", meaning, Japanese trading conglomerates comprising seven diversified companies which distinguished itself from others. This administrative approach was called "Kaizen" and it became a great business model that was followed by other countries. The impressive success of Japan was due to the implementation of important factors and incentives that were offered to the major industries. This quickly turned Japan into a model economy in the Far East. Very soon Korea took off, developed a similar exemplary model called "Chaebol," involving a group of large companies and imitated the Japanese model of "Sogo Shosha". The concept was a success and Korea began to shine in the world of industry, household appliances, electronics, telephones, ships and cars. This happened as Korea felt it had a moral responsibility to "take revenge" on its former ruler, Japan, for the pain the latter had inflicted on its people during its rule. The success of Japan and Korea had a positive impact on a wider scale in the region. This also gave a tremendous boost to the economies of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Vietnam. The surge in the economy of China was a massive one which affected economies of the whole world. China became like an integrated workshop on the planet and soon began to manufacture everything that can be produced at a cheaper and competitive price. Of course for China to sustain its extraordinary economic growth it was in urgent need of oil energy to expand its industrial capacity and so, regionally, it became one of the main importers of oil from the Gulf region in general and Saudi Arabia in particular. Japan is one of the most important oil customers of Saudi Arabia and it is interested in maintaining a balanced relationship with other countries in the region in order to ensure development of security and stability in the region. It has a remarkable demand for oil as its major source of energy and this demand has grown significantly after the disaster at its nuclear power facility that was struck by a massive earthquake a few years ago. Saudi Arabia's strategic visit to China is to emphasize that it is one of the significant partners among the G20 states that China will host in its annual summit, as well as to demonstrate its intention to build a bridge of trust and further develop relationship with important partners in the influential region of the world. Japan and China are firmly on track in its approach toward the Third World countries. Especially China has set strategic goals in the Middle East and the African continent as it feels "guaranteed" that the Asian economy is under its control. China's controversial aim was to settle 10 million Chinese amid the African population by 2010 and that is what has happened so as to ensure formation of a strategic presence in the African region and to build a base of loyalty and develop a network in one of the most promising markets. China and Japan are the two big Asian economies and continuing to build an economic relation with them is a strategic goal for Saudi Arabia. We hope this strategic goal will be a great success.
