TOKYO - Three ruling party rivals formally launched campaigns on Friday to
become Japan's next prime minister, registering to run in a race hawkish cabinet
minister Shinzo Abe appears to have already wrapped up.
Japanese Chief Cabinet
Secretary Shinzo Abe speaks to members of the ruling Liberal Democratic
Party who support him as a candidate in the upcoming election to become
the next Japanese prime minister, at the party headquarters in Tokyo
September 8, 2006. [Reuters] |
The 51-year-old Abe advocates a bolder role for Japan on the world stage and
reviving traditional values at home. But some doubt he will be as forceful as
combative Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in pushing economic reforms.
"I want to focus on what needs to be done to have Japan's economy grow
steadily, and on reviving education," Abe told reporters before submitting his
candidacy for the September 20 Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidential
election.
"From the standpoint of emerging from the 'post-war regime', I want to show
leadership on a new constitution," he said.
Abe, who would become Japan's first prime minister to be born after World War
Two, has made revising Japan's pacifist constitution a linchpin of his platform.
The constitution was drafted by U.S. occupation authorities after Japan's
1945 defeat.
"I want to develop an assertive diplomacy," he added.
Two lagging challengers, Foreign Minister Taro Aso, 66, and Finance Minister
Sadakazu Tanigaki, 61, also registered their candidacies, despite overwhelming
odds against them.
The new LDP president is assured the premiership by virtue of the party's
grip on parliament, which is expected to convene on September 26 to choose the
new prime minister.
Koizumi is stepping down after more than five years in the top job, making
him Japan's third-longest ruling prime minister since the end of World War Two.
BIG LEAD
Some 70 percent of LDP lawmakers have jumped on Abe's bandwagon and he is
running well ahead among the party rank-and-file as well, media surveys say.
The well-dressed, softly spoken Abe - known for his tough stance on the
emotive issue of Japanese abducted by North Korea decades ago - also has a big
lead in surveys asking the broader public who they prefer as next prime
minister.
The party is counting on the popularity of Abe, now chief cabinet secretary,
to help them in an upper house election next summer.
Although the race looked over before it began, the LDP hopes to profit from
the performance by keeping public interest alive.
"It would mean the end of the LDP if the curtain went up on September 8 and
the people found out that the play was actually already over," Aso told
reporters recently.
BEAUTIFUL CAMPAIGN
Abe, who is running under the slogan "Beautiful Country, Japan", has said one
of his top priorities will be to revise Japan's education law to put patriotism
in school curriculums.
He has also said he wants better ties with China and South Korea, chilled by
Koizumi's annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen by critics as a symbol
of Japan's past militarism.
The Yomiuri newspaper reported on Friday that Abe was eyeing talks with
Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific leaders summit
in Hanoi in November.
But Abe has been coy on two topics of keen public interest: whether he would
visit Yasukuni if elected, and when and how much he thinks Japan's 5 percent
sales tax should be raised.
Tanigaki says he won't visit Yasukuni and that Japan should raise the sales
tax to 10 percent in by 2015 to rein in Japan's huge public
debt.
