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Likely leader talks tough on Diaoyu
Source: Agencies |
September 27, 2012, Thursday
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FORMER Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who walked away as leader five years ago, won an election yesterday to lead the main opposition party, making a return to power likely if the unpopular government is defeated in promised elections.
Abe, prime minister for a year before abruptly resigning in 2007 with an intestinal ailment, has taken a tough stance against China over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
"Our land and seas are threatened, and the economy has deteriorated after years of deflation. We must break free from this difficult situation and make a strong Japan, and that is my mission," he told reporters after the vote.
"I will clearly show my intention to take a firm action to protect the islands and the territorial waters around them."
Abe, 58, will most likely become prime minister if the conservative Liberal Democratic Party wins the most seats in the next election.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has said he plans to call elections soon, but has given no timeframe. Elections must be called by next summer.
Analysts say Abe's triumph could end up hurting the LDP because he was the most nationalistic of the five candidates, and because voters will remember his resignation.
"For ordinary Japanese who are not ideologically leaning one way or another, I think they'll say, 'Really? That's the guy who quit and left Japan in limbo,'" said Koichi Nakano, a professor of political science at Sophia University in Tokyo.
Nakano said relations with China could worsen if Abe becomes prime minister.
Abe's previous 2006-2007 tenure as prime minister was marked by a nationalistic agenda. He urged a revision of Japan's pacifist constitution, pressed for patriotic education, upgraded the defense agency to ministry status and pushed for Japan to have a greater international peacekeeping role.
He tried to improve relations with China that had frozen under his predecessor Junichiro Koizumi, after Koizumi repeatedly visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead, including some WWII criminals. But Abe also upset China and South Korea with attempts to revise Japan's wartime history, and said he regretted never visiting the shrine as prime minister himself.
He said there was no proof Japan's military had coerced Korean, Chinese and other women into prostitution during World War II. He apologized, but lately has been suggesting a 1993 apology for sex slavery may need revising.
Abe, prime minister for a year before abruptly resigning in 2007 with an intestinal ailment, has taken a tough stance against China over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
"Our land and seas are threatened, and the economy has deteriorated after years of deflation. We must break free from this difficult situation and make a strong Japan, and that is my mission," he told reporters after the vote.
"I will clearly show my intention to take a firm action to protect the islands and the territorial waters around them."
Abe, 58, will most likely become prime minister if the conservative Liberal Democratic Party wins the most seats in the next election.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has said he plans to call elections soon, but has given no timeframe. Elections must be called by next summer.
Analysts say Abe's triumph could end up hurting the LDP because he was the most nationalistic of the five candidates, and because voters will remember his resignation.
"For ordinary Japanese who are not ideologically leaning one way or another, I think they'll say, 'Really? That's the guy who quit and left Japan in limbo,'" said Koichi Nakano, a professor of political science at Sophia University in Tokyo.
Nakano said relations with China could worsen if Abe becomes prime minister.
Abe's previous 2006-2007 tenure as prime minister was marked by a nationalistic agenda. He urged a revision of Japan's pacifist constitution, pressed for patriotic education, upgraded the defense agency to ministry status and pushed for Japan to have a greater international peacekeeping role.
He tried to improve relations with China that had frozen under his predecessor Junichiro Koizumi, after Koizumi repeatedly visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead, including some WWII criminals. But Abe also upset China and South Korea with attempts to revise Japan's wartime history, and said he regretted never visiting the shrine as prime minister himself.
He said there was no proof Japan's military had coerced Korean, Chinese and other women into prostitution during World War II. He apologized, but lately has been suggesting a 1993 apology for sex slavery may need revising.
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