Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday reshuffled his
11-month old cabinet, replacing key ministerial posts including
chief cabinet secretary and ministers of defense, foreign affairs
and finance with veteran politicians.
Earlier in the day, as the ruling party president, Abe also
named a whole new leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
With the inauguration of the new cabinet, a question stands out:
Can the premier reverse his political fortune and regain public
trust after minister scandals, pension record fiasco and a crushing
defeat at July's upper house election?
In Monday's shake-up, Nobutaka Machimura, 62, was appointed as
foreign minister, a post he held under former premier Junichiro
Koizumi. Masahiko Komura, 65, another former foreign minister,
became defense minister.
Meanwhile, Kaoru Yosano, a known policy expert, was chosen as
new chief cabinet secretary. He in the past held various key posts
including education minister, trade minister and economic policy
minister.
Abe said at a press conference late Monday that with the new
cabinet members, he would endeavor to "win back once again the
trust in politics and the administration that we've lost."
The premier said he chose the appropriate individuals for the
respective posts according to their capabilities, but also stressed
that the new ministers must come clean with their political
funds.
Abe announced his intention to revamp the top layer of the
government and his party shortly after the ruling coalition's
embarrassing failure at July's election to retain majority in the
House of Councillors. Despite sliding support rate and calling for
him to resign even from his own party, the 52-year-old leader said
he would remain at his post and continue the reforms and work
towards the goal to "build a beautiful country."
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At the reshuffle, former defense agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga was
named as the cabinet's finance minister while former political
commentator Yoichi Masuzoe will take the post as health and welfare
minister.
The post of justice minister went to 58-year-old Kunio Hatoyama,
who formerly served as education and labor minister. Former
prefectural governor Hiroya Masuda was chosen as internal affairs
and communications minister.
Abe said earlier that he would not form the cabinet along party
faction lines. In Monday's shake-up, he apparently tried to strike
a balance by also including those who do not belong to any
factions, like Yosano and Masuzoe.
Hard as the premier tried to make a brand new start, he has
suffered a sliding support rate down to less than 30 percent in
recent newspaper polls after the July election.
During the 11 months of his first cabinet, four ministers left
the cabinet -- three over political fund scandals and one over a
gaffe. The record-keeping errors resulting in some 50 million
unidentified pension accounts put the premier at an even more
unfavorable situation.
Meanwhile, Abe's political goals to make Japan "a beautiful
country," "free the nation from the postwar regime" and eventually
revise the Constitution seemed to have received not so much
applause.
His management of domestic political affairs has also been under
criticism. Supported by a comfortable majority in the more powerful
lower house, the ruling bloc forced a vote on a total of 17
occasions, under Abe's orders, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said
recently, calling it "a brutal manner."
As the majority in the upper house now belongs to the
opposition, the ruling party could hardly conduct political affairs
in the same manner.
Another issue is whether the special anti-terrorism law, which
is vital for Japan to participate in international peacekeeping
mission, can be extended before its expiration on Nov. 1. The
opposition has reiterated that it would block the passage of such
bills. If the law can not be extended in time, the US-Japan
alliance may be affected since Japan would not be able to continue
refueling US-led coalition forces in the Indian Ocean without the
law.
Besides, if the pension record-keeping errors could not be
tackled appropriately, Abe's pressure can hardly be expected to be
alleviated.
The cabinet reshuffle gave Abe no chance to make mistakes again.
If any minister was associated with scandals again or government
bills fail to pass the parliament in time, Abe's leadership would
again be challenged and the voice calling for his resignation could
be even louder.
(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2007)
