Japan’s new PM heads for global arena

JAPAN: Japan’s new Prime Minister will make an early debut on the global stage at a string of summits next week where he will likely confirm a strong US alliance and push ambitious climate change policies.

Yukio Hatoyama is set to meet US President Barack Obama, China’s Hu Jintao and other leaders at the UN General Assembly and climate change talks in New York and a Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh on reviving the world economy.

The centre-left leader — whose Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) ended decades of almost unbroken conservative rule in August 30 elections — has signalled a more vocal stance on international affairs for Japan.

“It’s been said that Japanese diplomacy is quite weak in multilateral talks,” the 62-year-old Hatoyama said days after his sweeping victory. “We want to contribute to Japan’s national interest and to world prosperity.”

The trio of meetings “is a golden chance for the Hatoyama administration to promote its policies as the world is watching Japan, which has recently fallen behind China,” said Susumu Kato, chief economist at Calyon Securities.

A key priority for Hatoyama will be to reassure Obama — whose message of “change” he echoed on the campaign trail — that Japan remains a solid ally, despite pledges by his party to scale back some military cooperation.

TOKYO, Wednesday, AFP