All five candidates for the LDP presidency stood
significantly to the right of incumbent Sadakazu Tanigaki on external relations,
but Shinzo Abe had been the most vocal of all. But he’s going to disappoint the
Japanese right and anyone else looking for more excitement on the eastern front.
He has always played it safe at crunch time and there’s no reason to believe
that he won’t do so again. He voted for the Koizumi administration’s Japan Post
reform bill in 2005 despite personal misgivings, wound up endorsing the Kono
Statement when his comments regarding the Korean comfort women stirred up
controversy,* and never—not openly at least—visited Yasukuni Shrine. Sure enough,
one of his first acts as new LDP president was to pick Masahiko Komura, the 70
year-old head of the Japan-China Parliamentarian Friendship Association, as
deputy LDP president, an at-large assignment whose role is analogous in
institutional terms to that of the US vice president. Komura visited Beijing
from September 26-29 as one of the leaders of the Seven Japan-China Friendship Organizations.**
So that’s that.
* A little creative editing by NYT interviewer Norimitsu Onishi also played a role there.
** Japan-China Economic Association Fujuo Cho missed
the trip because the Toyota corporate jet failed to take off… What?
No comments:
Post a Comment