Fukuda seems certain to be Japan premier

Tokyo, Sep 21 (DPA) Even before the game begins, the winner of the contest to determine who will succeed Japan’s outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seems to be decided.

Former chief cabinet secretary Yasuo Fukuda is the heavy favourite in the race against Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) general secretary Taro Aso to win the election to head the party Sunday and then to be chosen as the new prime minister Tuesday.


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Abe announced his resignation Sep 12, ending a year-long premiership and party leadership. He is now in a hospital for a gastrointestinal disorder caused by stress and fatigue.

Known as a political dove, Fukuda has received support from almost 70 percent of party lawmakers, while hawkish Aso so far has secured only 20 percent, according to Kyoto News Agency polls.

The incoming LDP president will almost certainly become Japan’s prime minister as the party holds a comfortable majority in the lower house of parliament, the House of Representatives which is more powerful than the upper house.

The two candidates, who seem to stand at opposite extremes of the Japanese political spectrum, actually show little difference in their policies, according to an analysis by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Lone-wolf Fukuda, who has a reputation for an expressionless face, suddenly became all smiles when he decided to run for the post of party president, and then premier, winning support from a majority of LDP members, the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho quoted politicians as saying.

It is ironic, local media say, that Fukuda came close to resigning as chief cabinet secretary under former prime ministers Yoshiro Mori and Junichiro Koizumi because he felt he was getting “too old”.

Throughout most of his life, the 71-year-old political thoroughbred never intended to run for office, according to the magazine. But after he retired from a career as an import department chief at Cosmo Oil Co, he entered politics in 1976 to work as a secretary to his father, then prime minister Mikio Fukuda.

Unlike Aso, 67, who has been criticized for a few slips of the tongue, Fukuda is known to choose his words and behave carefully – skills learned under his father.

The two sets of policies submitted by Fukuda and Aso are very similar, with the younger candidate showing a more hard-line approach in some areas, the Asahi Shimbun said.

In one of the most crucial issues in the premiership election, both candidates support extending a special law that allows Japan’s military assistance to Western nations involved in the war in Afghanistan.

Abe decided to resign because he failed to win the support from the opposition he needed to extend the law. The law’s continuation is looking increasingly unlikely since the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won the majority in the July elections. It was a humiliating defeat of LDP and its coalition partner New Komeito.

Fukuda intends to continue seeking support from the DJP. Aso agrees but says he also plans to consider adopting a new law.

On issues related to North Korea, Fukuda wishes to push dialogue before pressure, whereas Aso believes dialogue would not be reached without pressure, according to Asahi Shimbun’s analysis.

The two candidates show their deepest division over an issue deemed critical to Japan’s amicable relationships with its Asian neighbours.

Fukuda says he does not plan to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honours 2.5 million war dead, including convicted war criminals of World War II. Visits to the shrine by past prime ministers have infuriated China, South Korea and other Asian neighbours who suffered from Japanese wartime aggression.

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