Consensus builder Kishida set to become Japan's next PM after party vote

Tokyo

FORMER foreign minister Fumio Kishida won a ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership race on Wednesday, a victory that virtually ensures he will succeed Yoshihide Suga as prime minister within days.

Mr Kishida enjoys only moderate public support and has a bland image and his victory could spell problems for the LDP in a general election due within weeks.

The 64-year-old defeated former defence and foreign minister Taro Kono, seen as an outspoken maverick, in a second round run-off vote.

Two female contenders, Sanae Takaichi, 60, and Seiko Noda, 61, dropped out after the first round.

The winner of the party poll to succeed the unpopular Mr Suga, who is not seeking re-election after just one year in office, is almost certain to become premier because of its majority in Parliament's lower house.

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Mr Kishida, who must now call an election by Nov 28, faces the task of rebuilding an economy staggering from the Covid-19 pandemic, but his consensus style will help him consolidate power within the factious ruling party.

His victory is unlikely to trigger a huge shift in policies as Japan seeks to cope with an assertive China and revive an economy hit by the pandemic, with the soft-spoken MP highlighting the need to focus on reducing income disparity.

He shares a broad consensus on the need to boost Japan's defences and strengthen security ties with the United States and other partners including the Quad grouping of Japan, the US, Australia and India, while preserving vital economic ties with China and holding regular summit meetings.

Specifically, he wants to beef up Japan's coast guard and backs passing of a resolution condemning China's treatment of members of the Uighur minority.

He wants to appoint a prime ministerial aide to monitor their human rights situation.

Mr Kishida said deregulation during the reform era in the early 2000s widened the gap between the haves and have-nots and that former prime minister Shinzo Abe's "Abenomics", which sought to fix tattered finances by achieving high growth and boosting tax revenues, did not result in benefits trickling down.

Mr Kishida has said fiscal consolidation would be a major pillar of his policy and in the past has voiced doubts over the Bank of Japan's ultra-loose policy, saying in 2018 that stimulus cannot last forever.

With the economy suffering from the pandemic, he reversed course to say the central bank must maintain its massive stimulus.

He proposed a spending package of more than 30 trillion yen (S$365 billion), adding that Japan likely would not raise a sales tax rate from 10 per cent "for about a decade".

He stressed the need to distribute more wealth to households, in contrast to the focus of Mr Abe's "Abenomics" policies on boosting corporate profits in the hope benefits trickle down to wage-earners. REUTERS