Japanese Prime Minister posted on Monday staunch supporters of his structural reforms and foreign policy hardliners in his new and very likely the last cabinet.

Koizumi said he will step down from the premiership next September when his term as president of the Liberal Democratic Party ends.

At a press conference after the reshuffle, Koizumi described the lineup as "a cabinet for pushing forward with reforms."

"In terms of the new cabinet members and party officials, I only picked those who have the intention to carry through the reform agenda," he said.

The premier also said he doesn't think those who stay out of the reform track will become the next leaders of the country and the LDP.

Koizumi replaced 11 of the 17 ministers in his former cabinet. Not surprisingly, the survivors were steadfast allies in his reform campaign.

Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki retained his post. And Heizo Takenaka, the only cabinet member who has been in office since Koizumi took power in 2001, remained as the minister in charge of postal reform, plus a new prominent post as internal affairs and communications minister.

Shinzo Abe, who once served as deputy chief cabinet secretary and the ruling party's secretary general, was promoted to the post of chief cabinet secretary.

Koizumi has been strongly determined to press forward with his reform process and the effort to revamp the faction-bristling ruling party.

In August, Koizumi immediately dissolved the lower house after his postal reform bills failed to clear the parliament.

The iron-handed party leader has also recently purged some party lawmakers who voted against the postal bills and reinforced his authority.

Koizumi put three would-be successors in the new lineup to see how able they are to take over the power.

However, except finance minister Saakazu Tanigaki, Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso are known as hawkish figures.

Both the two future stars not only actively support Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, but also are frequenters there themselves, despite that the issue has severely damaged Japan's relations with China and South Korea.

Abe told reporters after the appointment that he will continue the practice.

"Like the prime minister, I have visited (the shrine) as a citizen as well as a politician. And I think I will keep going with the same sentiment, " he said.

Abe, the grandson of former Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, also has been pressing for slapping economic sanctions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, while Koizumi was cautious about such an action.

Aso also irritated South Koreans in 2003 when he head the ruling party's policy research body. He claimed that Koreans changed their names to Japanese ones under Japan's colonial rule of Korean Peninsular of their own accord.

Although Koizumi is now backed by an array of loyal lieutenants and the absolute majority in the parliament, the prime minister still faces a uphill task in the rest period of his term.

The new cabinet must deal with an ever dwindling birthrate and aging demography which have considerably weighted on the welfare system of the world's second largest economy.

In terms of fiscal reconstruction, the cabinet needs to tackle the central and local governments' outstanding long-term debts of more than 700 trillion yen (US$6 trillion).

Koizumi also aimed to cut the size and personnel costs of the pubic services.

Abroad, Koizumi is plagued with deteriorating relations with China and South Korea as a result of his visits to the shrine. The practice has prevented a summit meeting with Chinese leaders, and the impact to the political arena is spilling over into the economic sector. Should the premier and his hard-line aids stick to the current stance, the bilateral relations will have little chance to rebound.

"It is a worrying diplomatic lineup. It is doubtful weather such an arrangement can rebuild the diplomacy in Asia," the Asahi Shimbun said in its editorial.

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2005)