Aso set to become Japan's new PM

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-23 07:39

TOKYO -- Taro Aso Monday won the leadership race of Japan's struggling ruling party quite easily to virtually ensure being elected the country's prime minister tomorrow.

A former foreign minister and grandson of a prominent former prime minister, Aso got 351 of the 525 votes cast in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) polls.

Aso, 68, is almost certain to be elected prime minister in the LDP-dominated parliament tomorrow, making him the third Japanese top leader since September 2006 and the first Roman Catholic to hold the job.

His triumph over four rivals in the LDP polls had been widely expected, with many hoping he would lift the country out of the political and economic turmoil.

The former Olympic skeetshooter immediately vowed to rejuvenate his troubled party and lead it to victory in elections to the powerful lower house of parliament, though he dodged questions on when he might call an election.

"Who else but our party can achieve policies in order to address public concerns?" Aso said at the LDP headquarters. "I'm committed to winning the elections and taking further steps to achieve economic recovery and pursuing reforms."

Aso, who favors the alliance with the US and a diplomatically assertive Japan, backs government spending to revive the flagging economy.

At his first news conference after winning the LDP contest, he said a debate on the 5 percent consumption tax would not even begin till the economy recovers. That, he said, would take about three years.

"The economy is contracting. People are worried about their lives after retirement," Aso said. "I think my main mission is to ease these concerns."

Outgoing Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, weary of battling a divided parliament, announced his resignation abruptly to throw the political world into disarray three weeks ago.

The LDP runs the lower house, but the opposition controls the upper house since last year's elections, and has repeatedly embarrassed Fukuda's government since then by blocking or delaying high-profile legislation.

The next prime minister will face mounting pressure to renew the LDP's mandate by calling early lower house elections, possibly next month.

Despite the change in leadership, Chinese experts say Japan will continue to maintain and develop friendly relations with China.

The Japanese ruling and opposition parties both value good ties with China because they are in Tokyo's basic interest, Liu Jiangyong, an expert in Japanese studies with Tsinghua University, said.

On Friday, when his victory in the LDP polls was almost certain, Aso said: "The three nations of Japan, China and South Korea are destined to prosper together".

During an earlier election debate, he had said Japan "will live together with China ... Friendship is only a tool, the real goal is co-prosperity of Japan and China".