Tokyo, Feb 18: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was reappointed Wednesday by Parliament to form her second Cabinet, following last week’s landslide election win that she hopes will allow a hard-right move to the country’s policies.
All previous ministers are expected to be retained.
Takaichi will look to use the symbolism of the day, seen as a formality, to further boost her ruling Liberal Democratic Party as it looks to capitalise on a two-thirds supermajority in the lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two parliamentary chambers.
Her goals include an increase in military power, more government spending and strengthened conservative social policies.
The power of a supermajority
Having two-thirds control of the 465-seat lower house allows Takaichi’s party to dominate top posts in house committees and push through bills rejected by the upper house, the chamber where the LDP-led ruling coalition lacks a majority.
Takaichi wants to bolster Japan’s military capability and arms sales, tighten immigration policies, push male-only imperial succession rules and preserve a criticised tradition that pressures women into abandoning their surnames.
Her ambition to revise the US-drafted postwar pacifist Constitution might have to wait, for now, as she is facing pressure to deal with rising prices, a declining population and worries about military security.
Addressing rising prices
Her first urgent task is to address rising prices and sluggish wages and pass a budget bill to fund those measures, delayed by the election.
Takaichi proposes a two-year sales tax cut on food products to ease household living costs.
Experts caution that her liberal fiscal policy could drive up prices and delay progress on trimming Japan’s huge national debt.
Courting Trump
Takaichi is manoeuvering for a crucial summit next month with US President Donald Trump, who will visit Beijing in April.
The US president endorsed Takaichi ahead of the Japanese election, and hours before Takaichi’s reappointment as prime minister, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced Japan will provide capital for three projects under a USD 550 billion investment package that Japan pledged in October.
Japan is committed to the USD 36 billion first batch of projects — a natural gas plant in Ohio, a US Gulf Coast crude oil export facility and a synthetic diamond manufacturing site.
Japan is also under pressure to increase annual defence spending.
“Japan will keep spending more and more for the US … The question is whether the public wants her to speak out against Trump or be obedient to ensure Japanese security,” said Masato Kamikubo, a Ritsumeikan University professor of policy science. “For China, it’s simple. Japanese people want her to be tough.”
A hawk on China
Takaichi in November suggested possible Japanese action if China makes a military move against Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own. That has led to Beijing’s diplomatic and economic reprisals.
Many Japanese, frustrated by China’s growing assertiveness, welcomed her comments on Taiwan.
Emboldened by the big election win, Takaichi could take a more hawkish stance with China, experts say.
Takaichi, soon after the election, said she is working to gain support for a visit to Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine. Visits to the shrine are seen by Japan’s neighbours as evidence of a lack of remorse for Japan’s wartime past.
A stronger military that spends more and sells more
Takaichi has pledged to revise security and defence policies by December to bolster Japan’s military capabilities, lifting a ban on lethal weapons exports and moving further away from postwar pacifist principles. Japan is also considering the development of a nuclear-powered submarine to increase offensive capabilities.
Takaichi wants to improve intelligence-gathering and establish a national agency to work more closely with ally Washington and defence partners like Australia and Britain.
She supports a controversial anti-espionage law that largely targets Chinese spies. Some experts say it could undermine Japanese civil rights.
Stricter on immigration and foreigners
Takaichi has proposed tougher policies on immigration and foreigners, something that resonates with a growing frustration in Japan.
Her government in January approved tougher rules on permanent residency and naturalisation as well as measures to prevent unpaid tax and social insurance.
Promoting traditional family values
Takaichi supports the imperial family’s male-only succession and opposes same-sex marriage.
She is also against a revision to the 19th-century civil law that would allow separate surnames for married couples so that women don’t get pressured into abandoning theirs.
In a step that rights activists call an attempt to block a dual-surname system, Takaichi is calling for a law to allow the greater use of maiden names as aliases instead. (AP)
