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Abe to announce candidacy for prime minister

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-09-01 07:38

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe was set to announce his candidacy on Friday to become Japan's next prime minister -- a contest he already looks certain to win.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe holds up a baby in his hometown of Nagato, western Japan Sunday, Aug. 13, 2006. Abe remains the front-runner in the race to become the next prime minister, according to a poll released Tuesday. [AP]

Abe, a conservative, has taken a tough stand on strained ties with China and South Korea. He advocates maintaining close ties with the United States while forging new links with Asian democracies.

On Friday, he is also likely to unveil a policy platform, expected to include calls to revise Japan's pacifist constitution and boost intelligence gathering.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) holds elections for party president on September 20. Since the LDP controls parliament's powerful lower house, its new president is virtually assured of succeeding Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whose term as LDP chief runs out this month.

"I'd like to state my intention on September 1, in response to the expectations of many of the Japanese people," Abe told lawmakers earlier this week. "I want to put all my efforts into creating a beautiful Japan worthy of the 21 century."

The remarks were widely interpreted as a signal that Abe would formally announce his candidature for the post on Friday.

Although the party president will be chosen by LDP members, Abe, 51, appears to be the publicly preferred candidate to replace Koizumi.

Opinion polls consistently show him well ahead of his rivals, Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki and Foreign Minister Taro Aso.

Keen to choose a popular leader ahead of an upper house election next summer, many LDP lawmakers and party members have already voiced their support for Abe, and media reports say he has already secured a majority of their votes.

The candidate who obtains a majority of 703 voters -- 403 by LDP members of parliament and 300 from party chapters in 47 prefectures -- wins the party post.

Abe rose to prominence by taking a tough stance against North Korea after Pyongyang admitted in 2002 to abducting Japanese citizens in the past, and his firm attitude towards China and South Korea have also won plaudits from conservatives.

He also spearheaded Tokyo's drive to seek a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning North Korea for its firing of a barrage of ballistic missiles in July.

But analysts and some ruling party lawmakers have voiced concerns that Abe may further strain Tokyo's ties with Asian neighbours, already chilled largely by Koizumi's visits to a war shrine seen by critics as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Abe has defended Koizumi's pilgrimages to the Yasukuni Shrine, and has criticised Beijing's refusal to hold a leaders' summit because of the visits as "absurd".

Japanese media have said Abe himself visited the shrine in April, although he has declined to comment.

Abe has also said business should be a separate matter from politics when dealing with China and has advocated closer ties with countries in the region including India and Australia that share "common values" such as democracy and freedom.

Abe, whose grandfather was a prime minister and whose father was a foreign minister, is considered a member of Japan's ruling elite.