TOKYO — The newly elected Japanese prime minister pledged Tuesday night to stick to the vital Japan-U.S. alliance amid growing tension in the region while calling for it to be more equitable. This comes as the new premier tries to boost a slow economy and regain public trust ahead of a national election later this month.
Shigeru Ishiba was chosen as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party last week, a ticket to the top job as his party’s coalition controls parliament. He replaced Fumio Kishida who stepped down earlier Tuesday to pave the way for a fresh leader after scandals dogged his government.
The new prime minister - who was always viewed as an outsider by his party - immediately formed his Cabinet with a strong emphasis on defense and several security experts onboard. With only a couple of women ministers, the majority, including Ishiba, are unaffiliated with factions led and controlled by party heavyweights, and none are from former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s powerful group linked to damaging misconduct.
Speaking to reporters at the prime minister’s office for the first time following a palace ceremony, Ishiba called for stronger military cooperation with like-minded partners. He has been vocal about his wish to form a NATO-like alliance in the region.
He said that one of his policy’s main goals was “to protect Japan” as “the security environment surrounding us is the toughest since the end of World War II,” adding he will adhere to the Japan-U.S. alliance as “the lynchpin” in bolstering his country’s defense and diplomacy.
Ishiba renewed his proposal of a more equal Japan-U.S. security alliance, including joint management of U.S. bases in Japan and having Japanese Self Defense Force bases in the United States, which would require a revision of the bilateral status of forces agreement, a move seen as a big challenge. He says the current bilateral alliance is “asymmetrical.”
PHOTOS: Japan's new premier vows to push strong defense under Japan-US alliance and boost economy
“The measure would contribute to further strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance,” Ishiba said. “I’ve advocated the idea for more than 20 years and obviously it’s not going to happen suddenly just because I became prime minister.” He also said he hadn’t assigned the matter to his Cabinet as an urgent task. “But I will not give up and will steadily work on it.”
A day before officially coming to office, Ishiba said he would call for a snap election on Oct. 27 and that former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi would head the party’s election task force. On Tuesday, he said he intended to dissolve the lower house on Oct. 9 in preparation for the balloting, adding his new administration needed to have “the people’s verdict” as soon as possible.
During Tuesday’s parliament session, opposition leaders widely criticized Ishiba for announcing such a plan before even becoming prime minister and allowing only several days for his policies to be examined and discussed before a national election. They delayed the vote required to approve his new post for about half an hour, despite not having the power to affect it, signaling a rocky beginning for Ishiba.
Ishiba appointed several ministers who voted for him in the party leadership poll, including two former defense ministers with whom he had worked closely - Takeshi Iwaya as foreign minister and Gen Nakatani as defense chief. He retained Kishida’s top confidante, Yoshimasa Hayashi, as chief Cabinet secretary, who also previously served as defense minister. He appointed Katsunobu Kato as finance minister.
Only two of the 19 ministers are women: actor-turned-lawmaker Junko Mihara as children’s policy minister and Toshiko Abe as education minister. The government is under pressure to increase the number of women in public office. Women now account for only 10% of the lower house, placing Japan near the bottom of global gender-equality rankings.
Some argue his Cabinet lacks a stable power base that could cause it to collapse, but Ishiba hopes to build party unity while preparing for the upcoming election, according to the liberal-leaning Asahi newspaper. The move is also seen as revenge by Ishiba, who was largely pushed to the side during most of Abe’s reign, the paper said.
Last week, Ishiba drafted his views on security and defense in an article for the Hudson Institute. He proposed combining the existing security and diplomatic groupings, such as the Quad and other bilateral and multilateral frameworks involving the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the Philippines.
He wrote that a NATO-like alliance could also consider sharing control of U.S. nuclear weapons in the region as a deterrence against growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia.
Ishiba also pledged to continue Kishida’s economic policy aimed at pulling Japan out of deflation and achieving real salary increases while tackling challenges such as the country’s declining birthrate and population and increasing resilience to natural disasters. He announced plans to set up a disaster management ministry on Tuesday.
Kishida, the former prime minister, announced in August he would resign at the end of his three-year term to pave the way for a new leader as corruption scandals engulfed his party and government. He left his office on Tuesday for the last time after a brief send-off ceremony where he was presented with a bouquet of red roses and applauded by his staff and former Cabinet members.
The LDP has had a nearly unbroken tenure governing Japan since World War II. The party members may have seen Ishiba’s more centrist views as crucial in pushing back challenges by the liberal-leaning opposition and winning voter support as the party reels from corruption scandals that drove down Kishida’s popularity.
Ishiba, first elected to parliament in 1986, has served as defense minister, agriculture minister and in other key Cabinet posts, and was LDP secretary-general under Abe.
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