Japan allowed to buy 10.3 bln worth of Chinese government

Japan got the permission from China to purchase 65 billion yuan (about 10.3 billion U.S. dollars) worth of Chinese government bond, Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Tuesday. It was the first time the Japanese government announced the specific figure of its permitted allotment of Chinese government bond. Azumi told reporters that the size was "appropriate" in view of strengthening the economic ties between the two countries. During Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's visit to China last December, the two sides had reached consensus on Japan's purchase of Chinese government bond. Azumi said it depended on market conditions as to when to start buying. The historic move was hailed by experts closely watching the currency cooperation between Japan and China. Xing Yuqing, an economist with the Tokyo-based Asian Development Bank Institute, told Xinhua that it was a good timing to invest in the RMB bond since the yen had been appreciating against the RMB. Xing said the finance authorities in Japan were optimistic about prospect of the internationalization of the Chinese currency. They believed that the involvement of the yen in the process would create a win-win situation. "Purchasing RMB asset is an important step to diversify Japan's foreign exchange reserve assets," Xing said, though the purchasing size accounts for only one percent of Japan's foreign exchange reserves.