State trip, signals, lay the groundwork, to help offset future shortages

• 台積電和索尼週二表示，雙方擬在日本建造一座價值70億美元的晶片廠，並預計將得到日本政府的大力支持。

Getting ready to support TSMC $8 billion investment.

https://s.nikkei.com/2Yodn5k

ASIA.NIKKEI.COM
Japan starts laying legal groundwork for TSMC subsidy
Production requirement weighed to help offset future shortages

Clinton picks Asia for first State trip

WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton departs Sunday on her first foreign trip as secretary of State, a visit to four Asian capitals that will feature talks on climate change, the economic crisis and the North Korean nuclear threat.

Clinton's eight-day mission will take her to Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China. The far East "was a logical choice for her to focus on," and "signals that the U.S. recognizes the growing importance of Asia," said Paul Stares, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country where President Obama lived as a child, Clinton may lay the groundwork for a presidential visit later this year, Stares said. Visiting Jakarta is also "part of this attempt to reshape the United States' image in the Muslim world, said Rodger Baker, director of East Asian analysis at Texas-based Stratfor, an intelligence company.

groundwork

work done in preparation for something that will happen later: The planning committee will lay the groundwork for the conference.