September 11, 2007	Tuesday	Sha'aban 28, 1428

TOKYO: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s declaration at a press conference in Sydney on Sunday that he would resign if parliament does not extend refuelling support for the United States-led coalition in Afghanistan showed the country’s first post-war leader failing in his conservative policies.

Asked at the press conference, at the close of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, what he would do if he failed to get the required vote, the man who took office a year ago, promising to build a ‘beautiful Japan’, said: “I would not cling to my job as prime minister.”

“When Abe took office he rode the image of an ambitious young leader who symbolised a new page in Japan. But he has done so badly that the message (he projects) is gloomy — that Japan’s post-war generation of leaders do not have the capacity to steer the country, now a respected economic powerhouse, into a leader in Asia,” Prof. Phil Deans, political analyst at the Temple University, Tokyo, told the news agency.

Abe, 52, is already reeling under a series of corruption scandals. Takehiko Endo, the man he appointed as agriculture minister late August, in a cabinet reshuffle aimed at shoring up the failing image of his government, had to resign barely a week later on corruption charges.

In July Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was routed in elections to the Upper House by the opposition Democratic party which is set against the refuelling operations by the Japanese navy and will certainly oppose an extension beyond Nov 1 when its authorisation expires.

Ichiro Ozawa, Democrat leader, insists that Japan can only participate in United Nations-led peacekeeping whereas the refuelling operations, begun in November 2001, are part of support for the US-led ‘war-on-terror’ in Afghanistan.

When parliament convenes on Monday for an extraordinary session, one of the main items for debate is bound to be the renewal of the refuelling operations beyond Nov 1. But there are other issues that Abe’s lame-duck government must face first, such as the corruption scandals.

Endo’s resignation is seen as a huge blow for Abe who has been struggling to appease the public and projecting an image of strong leadership. “Abe has stoutly defended his ministers despite public anger... he projected an image of being prepared to protect his scandal-hit ministers at all costs,” commented the Asahi newspaper.

The looming resignation of Abe has, according to analysts, highlighted a disturbing aspect of modern Japan, a country Deans sees as “increasingly detached” and “rudderless” in the global arena. “Abe has pushed a nationalistic agenda that has fallen flat with the voters and resulted in few international landmarks. The result is an increasingly isolated Japan today,” Deans said.

Experts point to the marginalisation of Japan in the six-party talks aimed at containing North Korea’s nuclear development. The other countries in the group are the US, China, South Korea and Russia.

It has been pointed out that Abe’s insistence on linking the issue with that of Japanese citizens abducted by the totalitarian government, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, has contributed to making Japan the odd man out within the group that has gone ahead to forge new agreements with Pyongyang.

Abe’s efforts to push conservative policies — including patriotic educational curricula in schools and an anti-China approach — have only increased the sense of isolation.

For example, the Asahi termed as “simplistic” the move by Abe to stress value-driven diplomacy — around freedom and democracy — with India during his visit to New Delhi last month. Abe also sees an expanded Asia together with the US and Australia, but not China.

Despite international concern, Abe’s single-minded pursuance of his conservative ideology surfaced when he travelled to Kolkata to meet with the grandson of the late Justice Radhabinod Pal, the only judge at the Tokyo tribunal in 1946 who refused to find Japanese war criminals guilty. Pal, a strong pacifist who also condemned Japan’s atrocities in China and Asia during World War II, is still revered among right- wing groups here for not blindly siding with the West.

Prof. Jeff Kingston, an international relations expert at the Temple University said he believed that Abe’s possible exit does not mean an end to conservative, policies since he is likely to be succeeded by the equally conservative Taro Aso, currently foreign minister. “Aso’s leanings are similar to Abe’s. The reality is the post-war generation of LDP politicians is revisionist not reformist,” Kingston explained to the news agency.

“Failure by Japan to come up with a strategic partnership with both India and China is a concern for everybody,” said Kingston.—Dawn/The IPS News Service