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.