After sparking crisis, Japan PM seeks mediator role
After sparking crisis, Japan PM seeks mediator role
TOKYO (Reuter): Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, who ignited a bitter power struggle with his sudden resignation, urged Japan's bickering coalition chiefs yesterday to shelve their feud and choose his successor.
Hosokawa's shock resignation on Friday sparked a struggle to choose the next leader within the unwieldy ruling alliance, polarized into opposing camps led by rival titans Ichiro Ozawa and Masayoshi Takemura, the chief cabinet secretary.
After four days of on-off meetings that have produced no progress, coalition representatives agreed to resume talks today (starts at 0200 GMT).
The prime minister, who stepped down amid a growing scandal over his financial dealings in the 1980s, said he now hoped to mediate to help avert a political crisis.
"I would like to do what I can to restore confidence in politics," he said in a speech to business executives.
The prime minister warned Ozawa, coalition strategist and head of the influential Shinseito (Renewal Party), and Takemura, leader of the New Party Sakigake, that electoral reforms and anti-corruption measures passed in January could be lost as a result of their feud.
"I fear greatly that all of our political reforms will be destroyed as a result," he said.
A government panel was inaugurated on Monday with the task of redrawing Japan's electoral map in the next six months. In the event the government falls and parliament is dissolved soon, elections would take place under the current polling system, sounding the death knell for the hard-won reforms.
"If all else fails, parliament would have to be dissolved for elections," said political analyst Takashi Tachibana. "In the meantime, a provisional government would take over."
Foreign Minister Tsutomu Hata, who is also deputy prime minister, is regarded as a leading candidate to take over if the coalition manages to paper over policy differences, which have pushed it to the brink four times in as many months.
While alliance leaders jostled for position in the heated negotiations, Hata too urged conciliation.
"It's true we're caught up in an emotional wrangle, but it's not like the coalition's framework has fallen apart," he told a news conference. "I think we can overcome (our differences) and reach an agreement in talks."
Hata, a former finance minister with experience in handling tough U.S.-Japan trade issues, is widely seen as the best choice for a post that will require urgent efforts to boost a sagging economy and resolve a trade dispute with Washington.
After days of uncertainty, it appeared clear late on Tuesday that Hata would after all travel to Morocco this week for a global trade meeting, and meet U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor.
A tough-talking Kantor told Reuters en route to Morocco that the United States intended to give Japan time to reconfigure its government but had no intention of changing its long-term market- opening strategy for Japan.
Trade talks broke down in February and, while unofficial contacts continue, Kantor said Japan must do more if the formal dialogue was to resume.
Sakigake's Takemura, who invited LDP members on Monday to defect and join him in a new alliance, appeared to retreat.
"I think the coalition parties should try to overcome their differences and make a new start," he said. "We need to begin discussing how we can make our present coalition framework more democratic."
The remark was a veiled but direct attack on Ozawa, who Takemura suspects of scheming to take control of policy-making.
The coalition is split into two camps. Hata's supporters include his own Shinseito, the Komeito (Clean Government Party) and Hosokawa's Japan New Party.
Opposing his candidacy is the Socialist-led camp which also comprises Sakigake under Takemura, and the centrist Democratic Socialists.