Yoshihide Suga, the Vaccine Minister who is running to replace Prime Minister Taro Kono, attends a group interview in Tokyo, Japan, September 16, 2021. On 16 September Reuters - Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, running for national prime minister to replace Taro Kono, told the Press Office on Thursday that any new economic stimulus measures should prioritize spending on renewable energy and expansion of 5 G networks.
The abrupt decision made two weeks ago by the Liberal Democratic Party led to a flurry of candidate candidates for the election, including former LDP Executive spokesperson Frank Suga, ex-Internal Affairs Minister Sanae Takaichi and ex-Internal Affairs Minister Seiko Noda, who is running against Kono in the contest on Sept. 29. The winner is virtually assured of being prime minister because of the party’s majority in the lower House of Parliament.
Noda's candidacy, announced on Thursday evening, could mean no single candidate wins at the first round and the election goes to a runoff. That would favour Kishida because grassroots party members would be unable to vote in subsequent rounds and factional politics would come to the fore.
On Wednesday, Kofo, 58, who has regularly topped opinion polls for who Japanese want as prime minister, achieved the backing of LDP heavyweight Shigeru Ishiba.
In a group interview, Kono declined to say how much spending would be appropriate, saying the government must lay out targeted areas before debating how big the package should be.
There shouldn't be a predetermined size of stimulus package, Kono said. There need to be a list of priorities such as steps to develop renewable energy and propagate 5 G networks nationwide. With the COVID – 19 pandemic still ravaging the economy, it was difficult to suddenly change the Bank of Japan's ultra loose policy, Kono said, adding the central bank must communicate its policy intentions clearly to markets.
Japan failed to make much headway in its growth strategy, a key element of former Premier Shinzo Abe's stimulus policies, Kono said. He said structural reforms would be among his priorities in putting the economy on a solid recovery path.
It's clear that businesses's ample internal reserves did not reflect higher wages. We need to make clear, he said: What we'll aim for is higher wages.
Kono, U.S. educated and fluent in English, hopes to parlay a combination of self-belief, strategy and stubbornness into becoming prime minister.
The former defence and foreign minister indicated every effort must be made to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, but Japan also needed to improve its intelligence gathering capability.
On Wednesday, North Korea launched ballistic missiles that landed in waters inside the Japan exclusive economic zone.
Kono said he would work for a solution to the issue of Japanese kidnapped by Pyongyang decades ago, which has long been a Japanese condition for improving diplomatic and economic ties with North Korea.
He also held discussions with North Korean officials who had the issue as Foreign Minister, he has said that the only way forward would be talking to Kim.
I wish to take every diplomatic measure possible to carry out this, he said.
Abe and Suga both said they were willing to meet Kim without condition, but the last time Japanese and North Korean leaders met was in 2004, when Junichiro Koizumi met Kim Jong-il's late father, Kim Jong Il.
In the conservative LDP, Kono veered from mainstream thinking with the message that he supports same-sex marriage
I agree with both. He suggested a same-sex marriage and allowing husbands and wives to have separate surnames, which are not possible in Japan - although some municipalities now issue same-sex partnership certificates.
Where questioning these sorts of values should be held in parliament without being bound by party restraints, he added.