ABE NAMES NEW LDP EXECS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TOKYO 005516 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/24/2016 TAGS: PGOV JA SUBJECT: ABE NAMES NEW LDP EXECS Classified By: AMBASSADOR J. THOMAS SHIEFFER. REASONS 1.4 (B),(D). ¶1. (C) Summary and comment. Newly elected Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President SHINZO ABE named Hidenao Nakagawa, Shoichi Nakagawa (no relation),and Yuya Niwa to the LDP's three top executive posts on September 25. The three positions, which are the key LDP policy and party management slots, are Secretary General, Policy Affairs Research Committee Chairman, and General Affairs Council Chairman. By choosing three senior politicians with far more experience than he himself has, ABE is showing his strength as a politician. He is also ensuring he has the best and most effective team in place to get his agenda past the Diet and win crucial upcoming elections. End summary and comment. Secretary General SIPDIS -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The new Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP),Hidenao Nakagawa, is a nine-term member of the Lower House representing Hiroshima 4 district, first elected in 1976. He suffered one defeat in 1990. A member of the largest LDP faction, the Mori faction, he has been the Chairman of the LDP's Policy Research Committee (PARC) since 2005, and was Chairman of the party's Diet Affairs Committee from 2002 to 2005. Other senior posts have included: Chief Cabinet Secretary (2000); Minister for Science and Technology (1996),Minister for Information Technology (2000); Minister for Northern Territories and Okinawa Development (2001); and Special Assistant to Prime Minister Murayama (1994). He has also served as Lower House Steering Committee Chairman (1998) in the Diet. Hidenao Nakagawa was expelled from the Chief Cabinet Secretary post after only three months in 2000 over scandal allegations involving an extramarital affair and ties to rightist groups. ¶3. (SBU) As Secretary General, Hidenao Nakagawa will play a leading role in the coalition's bid to maintain a majority in the Upper House. He is seen as an excellent communicator and someone with a wide network of allies within the LDP. He has also demonstrated a strong talent for party management, and is widely viewed as an effective liaison with coalition partner Komeito in the run-up to contentious unified local and Upper House Diet elections in 2007. Throughout his long career, Hidenao Nakagawa has played an active role as a policy expert on a broad range of issues, including economic policy, fiscal and tax policy, foreign affairs, administrative reform, and science and technology. He was a strong supporter of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform agenda and has spoken out for further progress on base realignment issues. He has also called for lifting the ban on Japan's exercise of the right of collective self-defense. ¶4. (SBU) Hidenao Nakagawa, born in Tokyo in 1944, graduated from one of Japan's leading private higher education institutions, Keio University, in 1966. Before entering politics, he worked as a political reporter at the Nikkei Shimbun from 1967-1973, covering the Office of the Prime Minister, the LDP, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare. He is married to the daughter of former Diet member Shunji Nakagawa, whose Diet seat he filled in 1976, and has two sons. His second son, Toshinao, recently lost the mayoral election in Hiroshima. Hidenao Nakagawa enjoys golf, reading, and swimming. He has a rough, gravelly voice and does not speak English well. Policy Research Affairs Committee -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The new Chairman of the LDP Policy Affairs Research Committee (PARC) is Shoichi Nakagawa, an eight-term Lower House Diet member representing Hokkaido 11 district, first elected in 1983. He is a member of the medium-sized Ibuki faction, known as the Kamei faction until Shizuka Kamei was ousted from the leadership in 2005 over his opposition to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal reform package. TOKYO 00005516 002 OF 003 One of the first to offer support for SHINZO ABE during his campaign for LDP President, Shoichi Nakagawa has been Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries since 2005, his second time in that position, and was Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry from 2003-2005. Within the LDP, he has held the top posts at Party Organization Headquarters (2002-2003) and Public Relations Headquarters (2001-2002), and served as Deputy Chairman of the General Affairs Council (1997) and Policy Affairs Research Council (1995). ¶6. (SBU) While Shoichi Nakagawa has held Diet Committee portfolios in Finance and Budget, he has devoted the majority of his long career to agricultural issues that are important to heavily rural Hokkaido. He is believed to have earned Abe's confidence as Chairman of a group of Diet members addressing North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens. He is also a leader of the nonpartisan, pro-Taiwan group known as Nikkakon in the Diet. Shoichi Nakagawa has publicly criticized China and has been active in efforts to reexamine history education in Japan with an eye to disputing certain accounts critical of Japan's wartime past. He has visited Yasukuni Shrine annually to pay respects to the war dead. He is described in the media as an outspoken conservative, but has been outward looking and internationally engaged in his capacity as Agriculture Minister. He favors trade liberalization, and worked hard to resolve the recent beef dispute with the United States, despite domestic resistance. He is seen to be pragmatic, engaging, smart, and ambitious. ¶7. (SBU) Shoichi Nakagawa was born in Tokyo in 1953 and graduated from prestigious Tokyo University in 1978. He worked for the Industrial Bank of Japan from 1978 until 1983. His father was also a leading LDP figure and former Agriculture Minister, and Shoichi Nakagawa filled that Diet seat in 1983 after his father's suicide. He is married and has a daughter. His hobbies include soccer, tennis, and reading. He does not speak English. General Affairs Council -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The new Chairman of the General Affairs Council, Yuya Niwa, is a 10-term Lower House member representing Ibaraki 6 district. He is co-Chairman of the Niwa-Koga faction, the third largest faction in the LDP, with 47 members. He has served twice as Minister of Health and Welfare, from 1992 to 1993, and again from 1999-2000. In the Diet, he has worked intensively on HIV, health insurance, and immunization reform issues. He has also written extensively on health, welfare, population, and the environment and is regarded as an expert on those issues. He is known for his close ties to LDP coalition partner Komeito, dating from his role as Deputy Chairman of the Policy Affairs Research Council during negotiations to form the coalition. He was also in charge of negotiations to revise legislation to implement the updated Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines. ¶9. (SBU) Niwa, born in 1945 in Ibaraki Prefecture, is the third son of a former Minister of Transportation. He worked for several years as a political reporter at the Yomiuri Shimbun after graduating from Keio University, and began his political career as secretary to former Prime Minister Ohira in 1977. His hobbies include golf, karaoke, and reading. He does not speak English. Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) Naming the three LDP executives was SHINZO Abe's first major decision since winning the party presidential bid on September 20, and he has clearly made at least one unconventional choice. The appointment of Hidenao Nakagawa comes as no surprise. Embassy Tokyo contacts and the media had frequently mentioned his name as a top contender for the job. ABE promised during his campaign to follow Koizumi's path in breaking with convention, and did so by appointing a TOKYO 00005516 003 OF 003 Secretary General from his own Mori faction. Agriculture SIPDIS Minister Shoichi Nakagawa was also considered a leading contender for a Cabinet post, although his name had not come up in connection with one of the three LDP executive positions. Niwa's selection, on the other hand, comes as a something of a surprise, and may reflect the importance that new LDP President ABE places on relations with Komeito, along with a focus on social and welfare issues, in anticipation of next year's grueling election campaign. His decision also helps bring in two factions, Ibuki and Niwa-Koga, that were not particularly close to Koizumi, thus potentially broadening his base of support within the party. SCHIEFFER