NHK unaware of the modification of the ATSF into a song contest

NHK the national japanese broadcaster seems to be clueless of the transformation of the ABU TV Song Festival into a song contest.
The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union confirmed the last month that the first competitive song contest of the ABU Since 1991 would be held in Sichuan (China) as a part of the ABU General Assembly 2017.

The contest, which will have the official name of "ABU Asia-Pacific Song Contest" will be coproduced by ABU and Hunan TV, one of the most successful Chinese private broadcasters.

Anyway, the Audience Assistance center of NHK has confessed us that they were clueless about the modification of the event into a contest and that they didn't recieve any notification about that.

NHK has been participating regularly in the ABU TV Song Festival since 2012, but it remains unknown if the Japanese broadcaster will take part in the newborn song contest.

Source: NHK audience assistance center.