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Rocky start for new cabinet
28/08/2007 12:21 - (SA)
Tokyo - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new cabinet got a rocky reception on Tuesday as the opposition rebuffed its offer to compromise on plans to extend Japanese support for US-led forces in Afghanistan.
The new line-up, made up of a string of veteran lawmakers brought back by Abe to shore up his government, failed to inspire the public in one instant poll with commentators warning there would be no quick fix.
Abe's sweeping reshuffle - appointing new ministers to the key portfolios of defence, finance and foreign affairs, as well as a top party post - came after his Liberal Democratic Party last month lost control of the upper house of parliament in the wake of a raft of scandals.
An Internet poll of 1 353 voters late on Monday by the private Fuji network found an overwhelming 78% had no high expectations for the new cabinet against 22% who were hopeful.
The upper house is now controlled by the centre-left opposition, which had campaigned on bread-and-butter issues such as revitalising regional economies, claiming Abe was out of touch with ordinary voters.
Abe, Japan's first premier born after World War II, is most identified with his calls to erase the legacies of defeat, including his push to create a more active military and rewrite the US-imposed pacifist constitution.
In a first test, Abe must persuade the opposition to drop its objections to government plans to continue to station Japanese ships in the Indian Ocean to refuel US and other warplanes in Afghanistan.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Kaoru Yosano, the government's new top spokesperson, said ministers hoped to reach a compromise with the opposition to extend the mission, which will expire on November 1 without further legislation.
"If debate gets stuck in parliament, we as politicians cannot keep a rigid attitude," Yosano, a 69-year-old political veteran, told a news conference.
"Japan's reputation in the international community is at stake and it is important to listen to the opinions of many people."
The United States, Japan's main ally, has warned the opposition that ending the Indian Ocean mission would hurt relations between the Pacific allies.
But Yukio Hatoyama, the secretary general of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, suggested the emboldened party was in no mood to compromise.
"I wonder if he understands the DPJ well," Hatoyama said of Yosano.
"I can't help but feel that the current support to Afghanistan isn't very useful," he said.
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