Suga, Abe's likely successor, talks up US-Japan alliance

Tokyo | Yoshihide Suga, the front runner to become Japan's next prime minister, has emphasised the importance of the nation's alliance with the US for the country's foreign policy.

"With the US-Japan alliance at the foundation, it is important for Japan to get along with other Asian nations," Mr Suga said in a debate at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo at the weekend. While Japan faces difficulties in its relations with China and South Korea, Mr Suga said he would seek to pursue "strategic" relations with both nations through communication.

The debate was the last formal Liberal Democratic Party event where all three candidates share the stage to discuss their policy priorities before it holds a party vote on Monday to replace Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as party leader. Mr Abe said in late August he was stepping down for health reasons.

The LDP, which has ruled the country for 60 of the past 65 years, is expected to use its majorities in parliament to install its new leader as prime minister on Wednesday. Then attention will be focused on the people he chooses for his cabinet.

"Continuity is what's important in diplomacy," Mr Suga said when asked how closely he would follow the Abe administration's style of foreign policy.

He stressed that he had been in the room for almost all of Mr Abe's many phone calls with US President Donald Trump, and bristled at the suggestion that just sitting in on the call might not count as diplomatic experience. "When it comes to making decisions as a nation, I've been involved in all of it," Mr Suga said.

Japan, whose own military is restricted by a pacifist constitution drafted by the US after World War II, relies heavily on America's troops and nuclear weapons for deterrence against growing threats from North Korea and an increasingly powerful China. Thousands of US military personnel are stationed in Japan.

Even before Mr Suga declared his candidacy on September 2, he had the backing of five of the seven factions and enough votes lined up for him to win. The only factions that did not back him were those led by the other contenders, former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba, with 19 members, and ex-foreign minister Fumio Kishida, with 47 members.

Mr Suga has pledged to continue the signature ultra-easy monetary policy of the current prime minister dubbed "Abenomics". He added that more should be done on monetary policy, if needed, to protect jobs and companies during the current virus crisis.

Any sign of a departure from the path of Abenomics could send the yen surging and stocks sliding, triggering a re-evaluation of the outlook for the nation. One of the first key economic decisions of the new prime minister will be the timing of a switch to stimulating a return to growth rather than focusing on life-support aid for businesses and households hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Suga on Friday appeared to backtrack from earlier comments about a sales tax, saying there was no need for another rise in the next decade. He emphasised that position at the weekend, saying he was not considering a sales tax increase in the next decade, but that it should not be ruled out thereafter.

Bloomberg