Hatoyama taps top aide as chief Cabinet secretary

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TOKYO, Sept. 4 Kyodo -
Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama has decided to appoint his top
aide Hirofumi Hirano as chief Cabinet secretary in his incoming government,
party sources said Friday.
But Hatoyama, Japan's prime minister in waiting, avoided confirming the
appointment Friday evening, saying ''How can I decide on the chief Cabinet
secretary when we are still proceeding with three-party negotiations (on a
coalition)?''
The DPJ and two smaller parties held their first secretary-general-level
meeting the same day since Sunday's general election to narrow their policy
differences while discussing the formation of a coalition government, and
decided to carry the talks over to next week.
Hatoyama has apparently decided to appoint Hirano, 60, currently head of the
DPJ executives' secretariat, to the post of top government spokesman after
offering the party's No. 2 post of secretary general to his predecessor as
party leader, Ichiro Ozawa.
Hatoyama is set to be voted in as the nation's next prime minister in a special
Diet session on Sept. 16, and is expected to launch his Cabinet immediately.
DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada and another DPJ heavyweight, Naoto Kan, are
also expected to get major Cabinet posts.
''I would like to give a key post in the Cabinet to Secretary General Okada,''
Hatoyama said Thursday.
On Friday, he said that Kan is one of those who have played a leadership role
and helped the party grow and that he should certainly have a post ''right in
the center.''
Concerning the coalition talks, Social Democratic Party Secretary General
Yasumasa Shigeno called for establishing a liaison policy coordination body
among the parties and opposed the DPJ's proposal to reduce the number of
proportional representation seats in the House of Representatives.
''We held free discussions about ways to decide policies and ideas for running
a government,'' Okada told reporters after the meeting in Tokyo, adding he
thinks the three should meet again next week.
As to the SDP proposal on creating a policy coordination body, Okada said, ''We
think it (policy) should be decided within the Cabinet,'' while acknowledging
the need to coordinate policies among the parties.
By concentrating policymaking power in the Cabinet, the DPJ hopes to avoid
creating the dual structure seen in the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party,
where government policy had to be approved by party panels.
Okada and Shigeno met Friday with Shizuka Kamei, leader of the People's New
Party. The three parties have held policy-chief-level meetings on forming a
coalition government since Wednesday, following the DPJ's landslide victory
over the ruling coalition of the LDP and the New Komeito party.
Despite capturing nearly two-thirds of the lower house seats, the DPJ hopes to
form a coalition government with the other two because it needs their
cooperation to control the less powerful upper house -- deemed essential to
running a stable government.