Takaichi reelected as Japan’s PM
Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Wednesday expressed hopes of deepening her relationship with US President Donald Trump and strengthen cooperation between the two countries in rare earths development and other areas of economic security when she visits Washington next month.
Takaichi, at a news conference late Wednesday, expressed hopes to strengthen cooperation with the US, especially in economic security, as tensions between Tokyo and Beijing have risen over the last few months. Takaichi, elected as Japan’s first female leader in October, was reappointed by Parliament as prime minister earlier in the day and formed her second Cabinet, following a landslide election win last week.
Takaichi aims to use the mandate she got in the election to boost her ruling Liberal Democratic Party as it looks to capitalise on a two-thirds supermajority in the lower house, the more powerful of Japan’s two parliamentary chambers.
The power of a supermajority
Having two-thirds control of the 465-seat lower house allows Takaichi’s party to dominate top posts in house committees and push through bills rejected by the upper house, the chamber where the LDP-led ruling coalition lacks a majority. Takaichi wants to bolster Japan’s military capability and arms sales, tighten immigration policies, push male-only imperial succession rules and preserve a criticised tradition that pressures women into abandoning their surnames.
Her ambition to revise the US-drafted postwar pacifist Constitution might have to wait, for now, as she is facing pressure to deal with rising prices, a declining population and worries about military security.
Addressing rising prices
Her first urgent task is to address rising prices and sluggish wages and pass a budget bill to fund those measures, delayed by the election.
Takaichi proposes a two-year sales tax cut on food products to ease household living costs. Experts caution that her liberal fiscal policy could drive up prices and delay progress on trimming Japan’s huge national debt.
Courting Trump
Takaichi is maneuvering for a crucial summit next month with Trump, who will visit Beijing in April.
