DPJ moving closer to assuming power as coalition talks proceed

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TOKYO, Sept. 2 Kyodo -
The Democratic Party of Japan, which won Sunday's general election by a
landslide, launched talks Wednesday with its two smaller allies over forming a
tripartite coalition, moving a step closer to assuming power.
In a meeting held in parliament, DPJ policy chief Masayuki Naoshima handed to
his counterparts from the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party a
draft policy agreement that added foreign and security policy elements to a
common campaign platform compiled before the election.
The elements include policies to lead efforts toward nuclear disarmament, work
toward the creation of an East Asian community, and forge close and equal
Japan-U.S. relations, opposition officials said.
The draft agreement also spells out policies to create monthly allowances for
parents bringing up children, to tackle intensively the issue of missing public
pension records and not to raise the 5 percent consumption tax rate until the
next general election, the officials said.
Among the other policies are promoting the decentralization of power from the
central to local governments, efforts to combat the new influenza and
anti-disaster management measures.
''Concerning our policies, we want to reach an official agreement as quickly as
possible -- perhaps by the end of this week,'' Naoshima told a press conference
after the talks, which also involved SDP policy chief Tomoko Abe and Shozaburo
Jimi, their counterpart from the People's New Party.
Abe, speaking to reporters separately, said the talks also touched on some
sensitive foreign policy issues, including the Maritime Self-Defense Force's
refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of U.S.-led anti-terrorism
efforts in and around Afghanistan.
The DPJ is seeking to form a coalition despite its large majority in the lower
house apparently due to the need to maintain the prospective partners'
cooperation in the upper House of Councillors, where it holds a combined
majority with those parties.
But the negotiations could be challenging for the three, which take different
positions regarding whether to amend the pacifist Constitution or to dispatch
the Self-Defense Forces overseas.
Earlier in the day, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada and Naoshima also met
with Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura to request cooperation from the
outgoing administration of Prime Minister Taro Aso for a smooth handover of
power.
Kawamura instructed ministers and vice ministers to help the DPJ in taking over
the administration.
In a related move, DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama, who is set to be elected as
Japan's next prime minister in a special Diet session Sept. 16, visited SDP
chief Mizuho Fukushima shortly after the SDP decided to discuss creating the
coalition.
''I asked President Hatoyama to ensure a system that can coordinate policies
(among the three),'' Fukushima told a press conference after the talks, airing
concerns that the opinions of the tiny opposition party could be overlooked.
Hatoyama was quoted by Fukushima as responding, ''I will think about it.''
But senior DPJ officials have frowned on the coordination panel, with one
saying it could lead to a dual decision-making structure.
In the meeting with Kawamura, Okada asked him, ''In light of the change of
government, I'd like to ask for explanations on policies the government is
working on and for the provision of information.'' The first part of the
meeting was open to the media.
At a regular press conference earlier in the day, top government spokesman
Kawamura said, ''We will offer cooperation to the new administration for the
sake of the state and national interests.''
''Unlike the United States or Britain, we have no basic rules in Japan on
transferring power, so I hope this will be one step toward creating those,'' he
added.
Aso also instructed Kawamura the same day to cooperate for ''a smooth change of
power'' and to ''fulfill the responsibilities on risk management and other
matters of the incumbent Cabinet until the birth of a new administration,''
according to Kawamura.
Okada and Naoshima asked the government to brief the party on its measures
against the new-influenza epidemic and how far the primary budget for fiscal
2009 and the extra budget for the current year have been implemented.
In the afternoon, the SDP held a meeting bringing together members from across
Japan in which many were cautious about joining the coalition and suggested the
party should support the DPJ from outside the Cabinet.
Their reasoning was that the SDP, which opposes making any changes to the
war-renouncing Constitution, remains split over foreign and security issues
with the DPJ and that their opinions may be ignored because of their party's
small presence in the Diet.
But Fukushima said, ''Regardless of whether our cooperation will be in or
outside the Cabinet, once we decide to commit ourselves in a new government we
will make all-out efforts.'' She added the party has yet to decide how it will
cooperate with the DPJ in the coalition.
On Sunday, the DPJ won 308 out of the 480 seats in the more powerful House of
Representatives, taking power from the Liberal Democratic Party, which has
ruled Japan for almost all of the past 54 years. The SDP won only seven seats.
The DPJ does not hold a majority in the House of Councillors and has formed an
alliance with the two opposition allies in the upper house.
==Kyodo
2009-09-02 23:34:11