Japan PM Kan to launch new Govt
JAPAN: New Japanese leader Naoto Kan was sheduled to launch his
Cabinet yesterday as expectations jostle with doubts that he can clip
the wings of a scandal-tainted party powerbroker and begin to tackle the
nation’s huge public debt.
Kan, 63, was to be sworn in as Japan’s fifth Premier in three years,
must convince voters to give his Democratic Party a second chance in a
looming election after predecessor Yukio Hatoyama squandered sky-high
support during his eight months in office.
The Democrats will stay in power regardless of the outcome of the
upper house election expected next month.
But without a majority on their own, they will remain dependent on a
tiny coalition partner and may need to find more allies to pass
legislation smoothly, complicating the outlook for policymaking. Kan,
who forged an image as a fiscal conservative after taking over as
finance minister in January, is expected to hand fellow fiscal reformer
Yoshihiko Noda the finance portfolio.
He will also appoint like-minded former National Strategy Minister
Yoshito Sengoku as chief cabinet secretary — the top government
spokesman and an important policy coordinator.
Kan faces the urgent task of keeping an economic recovery on track
while trying to rein in dependence on the borrowing that has inflated
Japan’s debt to twice the size of its GDP.
In a sign the recovery remains fragile, bank lending marked its
biggest annual fall in nearly five years in May, as companies remained
reluctant to boost capital spending.
Kan will likely also reappoint many ministers from Hatoyama’s
cabinet, including Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, who must help manage
ties with ally Washington, since an agreement to keep a U.S. airbase on
Okinawa island — forged amid controversy in Hatoyama’s final days —
faces stiff opposition from residents.
Many in the expected cabinet roster are critics of party powerbroker
Ichiro Ozawa, whose campaign skills were widely seen as helping the
Democrats win last year’s election but whose image as an old-style
wheeler dealer has become a liability. Tokyo, Tuesday, Reuters
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