- Title: JAPAN/FILE: Abe looks to improve economy while vowing to protect territory
- Date: 17th December 2012
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (DECEMBER 17, 2012) (REUTERS) (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) LEADER OF LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF JAPAN SHINZO ABE WALKING INTO NEWS CONFERENCE PHOTOGRAPHERS TAKING PICTURES OF ABE ABE AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) LEADER OF LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY SHINZO ABE SAYING: "The mission we have been given is both beat deflation and deal with the high yen while improving the economy and working to create more jobs." ABE AT PODIUM NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) LEADER OF LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY SHINZO ABE SAYING: "In terms of foreign and security policy, we must rebuild the bonds of the US-Japan alliance. Then once we have restored the strong diplomatic power we should have, we plan to improve relations with other countries and protect our territories." PEOPLE FILMING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) LEADER OF LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY SHINZO ABE SAYING: "We own and actively control the Senkaku islands, about this point there is no room to negotiate. In regards to this, when Japanese companies or people are harmed in China then this is indeed against international rules. It's necessary to tell both China and international society that we won't tolerate this." ABE WALKING AWAY FROM PODIUM LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY BUILDING SIGN THAT READS IN JAPANESE "LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY" PEOPLE HOLDING JAPANESE FLAGS IN FRONT OF LDP BUILDING MORE OF FLAGS IN FRONT OF LDP BUILDING SIGN THAT READS "THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS CLUB OF JAPAN" (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AT SOPHIA UNIVERSITY KOICHI NAKANO SAYING: "I think that alot of voters didn't quite realize punishing the DPJ meant also putting Abe back to power. Abe is unlike to be very popular, people remember him as the person who quit in the way he did last time around, he was a divisive figure, and he was lacking in Charisma." NAKANO'S EYES (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AT SOPHIA UNIVERSITY KOICHI NAKANO SAYING: "But it's no secret that the LDP and particularly Mr. Abe are very pro-nuclear power generation and they are also getting pressure from the business sector to restart the nuclear power plants as soon as possible. So my guess is that they would go ahead with restarting the nuclear reactors as-is Fukushima never happened, the only question is when they will start that in earnest." BANNER BEHIND NAKANO TOKYO, JAPAN (DECEMBER 15, 2012) (REUTERS) ABE WALKING THROUGH CROWD ABE CHEERING SUPPORTERS FROM ELECTION TRUCK MORE OF ABE CHEERING SUPPORTERS HOLDING JAPANESE FLAGS MORE OF SUPPORTERS HOLDING FLAGS
- Embargoed: 1st January 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Economy
- Reuters ID: LVA6ZPJHEUYSH07KX03BHBRCEKP5
- Story Text: Japan's next Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, buoyed by a landslide election victory on Monday (December 17), vowed to defend Japanese territory and kick start the economy out of it's current lethargy.
Abe campaigned calling for "unlimited" monetary easing by the BOJ and promising a surge in public spending to snap the world's third-biggest economy out of its fourth recession since 2000 and persistent low-grade deflation.
"The mission we have been given is both beat deflation and deal with the high yen while improving the economy and working to create more jobs," Abe said.
Security policy and strained relations with Japan's neighbours as well as Japan's alliance with the United States was another key theme of Abe's campaign although the conservative leader reiterated there was no question about the sovereignty of the uninhabited East China Sea islands called the Senkaku by Tokyo.
"In terms of foreign and security policy, we must rebuild the bonds of the US-Japan alliance. Then once we have restored the strong diplomatic power we should have, we plan to improve relations with other countries and protect our territories," Abe said.
Abe added negotiation with China on the islands' issue was not an option.
"We own and actively control the Senkaku islands, about this point there is no room to negotiate. In regards to this, when Japanese companies or people are harmed in China then this is indeed against international rules. It's necessary to tell both China and international society that we won't tolerate this," Abe said.
While Abe spoke of the popular mandate for his policies, analysts such as Sophia University's Koichi Nakano cautioned that Sunday's vote was more a damning verdict on the reign of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) than an embrace of Abe's agenda or the party that had ruled Japan for most of the past 50 years.
"I think that alot of voters didn't quite realize punishing the DPJ meant also putting Abe back to power. Abe is unlike to be very popular, people remember him as the person who quit in the way he did last time around, he was a divisive figure, and he was lacking in Charisma," Nakano said.
With the party returning to power, Nakano said that it may also look to push for more restarts of nuclear power as the party favours a central role for nuclear power in Japan's energy mix despite a dramatic shift in public opinion in favour of phasing out atomic energy after the Fukushima crisis.
"But it's no secret that the LDP and particularly Mr. Abe are very pro-nuclear power generation and they are also getting pressure from the business sector to restart the nuclear power plants as soon as possible. So my guess is that they would go ahead with restarting the nuclear reactors as-is Fukushima never happened, the only question is when they will start that in earnest," Nakano said.
NHK public TV said on Monday the LDP had won 294 seats in the 480-member lower house. Its ally the New Komeito party won 31 seats, giving the two the two-thirds majority needed to over-rule most matters in the upper house, where no party has a majority. Turnout hit a post-war low of just above 59 percent, according to media estimates. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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