JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 08/03/07-2

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E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 08/03/07-2 Index: Alliance relations: 9) Japanese, US governments concerned over DPJ's opposition to antiterrorism law's extension 10) Ambassador Schieffer trying to get on DPJ head Ozawa's calendar for a meeting on anti-terror law 11) DPJ may be reconsidering its earlier rejection of Ozawa-Schieffer meeting 12) Meeting of defense minister, Okinawa governor does little to lift the cloud of uncertainty around the Futenma relocation project DPJ in Upper House saddle: 13) DPJ to submit own pension bill in short Diet session in August 14) ABE government may compromise with DPJ on contents of civil service reform bill in fall Diet session 15) DPJ has the power now to block key ruling camp appointments at the Bank of Japan 16) With DPJ on top in the Upper House, it may not be that easy now for the opposition parties to line up forces to fight the ruling coalition Ruling coalition in flux: 17) Ruling coalition already asks key cabinet posts, LDP factions seek consideration 18) New Komeito, having tasted bitter defeat in election, may try to distance self policy-wise from its coalition partner, the LDP 19) Prime Ministerial advisor Seko says that he no longer uses Abe's "beautiful country" slogan 20) US, Japan restart talks to ease restrictions on US beef imports Articles: 9) Japanese, US governments concerned over DPJ's opposition to antiterrorism law's extension YOMIURI (Page 2) (Abridged slightly) August 3, 2007 The Japanese and US governments are increasingly concerned over the Democratic Party of Japan's plan to oppose en extension of the Antiterrorism Special Measures Law, slated to expire on November 1. The law has been the legal basis for the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling operation for vessels in the Indian Ocean of the United States, Britain and other counties. The Foreign Ministry fears that if the government failed to extend the law, MSDF withdrawal would follow and that would harm international cooperation on the war on terrorism and deal a serious blow to the Japan-US alliance at the same time. The antiterrorism law was established for supporting US and British military activities in Afghanistan. The law has been extended three times since its establishment in November 2001, and the DPJ has opposed it every time. President Ichiro Ozawa of the DPJ, which has become the largest party in the House of Councillors through the July 29 poll, indicated on July 31 that his party would continue to oppose the law's extension, saying: "We have always opposed it, and TOKYO 00003548 002 OF 008 there is no reason to support it the next time around." In reaction, US State Department spokesman Tom Casey expressed strong hopes for the law's extension on August 1, saying: "We hope for the law's revision so that the United States and Japan will be able to continue to support the war on terrorism in every aspect." Washington is nervous because Japan's trend might affect activities in the Indian Ocean by the United States and other countries. By July 6, the MSDF has supplied to vessels of 11 countries a total of 480,000 kiloliters of fuel (on 763 occasions),6,090 tons of water, and 930 kiloliters of helicopter fuel. If Japan withdrew, those countries would have to either procure fuel independently or ask another country to take over Japan's place. In particular, Pakistan relies heavily on fuel from the MSDF. "If the MSDF withdrew, Pakistan might follow suit," a senior Defense Ministry official said. A US State Department source, too, voiced concern that the MSDF's withdrawal might cast a pall on Japan-US relations. MSDF activities in the Indian Ocean, along with the SDF mission in Iraq, have been a symbol of the solid Japan-US alliance. Senior Vice Foreign Minister Katsuhito Asano in a press conference yesterday indicated that the government would seek the understanding of the DPJ, saying: "The matter must be settled in a way not to negatively affect the Japan-US alliance. We will explain that (MSDF activities) are vital for the war on terrorism in a way easier to understand than before." 10) US envoy proposes meeting with Ozawa SANKEI (Page 5) (Full) August 3, 2007 US Ambassador to Japan Schieffer has proposed meeting with Ichiro Ozawa, president of the leading opposition Democratic Party of Japan, sources said yesterday. In his letter of proposal to Ozawa, Schieffer said he would like to discuss "important issues." Ozawa has now already clarified his intention to oppose the idea of extending the Antiterrorism Special Measures Law, which is to expire Nov. 1. Schieffer's proposal to meet with Ozawa is apparently aimed at urging Ozawa to think twice about his opposition. Ozawa is considering whether to accept the proposal. 11) DPJ positive about Ozawa-Schieffer meeting YOMIURI (Page 2) (Full) August 3, 2007 The Democratic Party of Japan yesterday responded positively to a request for talks between its president Ichiro Ozawa and US Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer. In the wake of the DPJ's landslide victory in the July 29 House of Councillors election, Schieffer had requested a meeting with Ozawa regarding the Antiterrorism Special Measures Law, but Ozawa had declined it. 12) Futenma relocation growing uncertain SANKEI (Page 5) (Abridged) TOKYO 00003548 003 OF 008 August 3, 2007 Defense Minister Yuriko Koike met yesterday with Okinawa Prefecture's Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima at the Defense Ministry over the issue of relocating the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to a coastal area of Camp Schwab in the island prefecture's northern coastal city of Nago. In the meeting, however, Nakaima declined to say whether he will agree to resume a consultative meeting with the government at an early date to discuss Futenma relocation. There has been no consultative meeting between the government and Okinawa over this issue for more than six months. In addition, Nakaima also remained noncommittal about whether he will consent to the government's proposal to conduct an environmental assessment of the relocation site. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party sustained a crushing defeat in the recent election for the House of Councillors. Consequently, questions are now being raised about the LDP-led government's capability of carrying out its policies. As it stands, Futenma relocation is now becoming even more uncertain. In the meeting, Nakaima asked Koike to consider Okinawa. "You know well about Okinawa," Nakaima said, "and people in Okinawa Prefecture trust you on the issue of relocating Futenma airfield." Nakaima added, "I'd like to ask you to understand the feelings of Okinawa." Meanwhile, the government has held no consultative meeting with Okinawa's prefectural and municipal governments over Futenma relocation since this January. The government wants to resume it at an early date. Nakaima, however, remained unclear about it. "We need to coordinate well," he said. In August last year, when Koike was minister of state for Okinawa, she made efforts to continue the government's local development projects with an annual outlay of 10 billion yen for Okinawa Prefecture's northern districts. The government had once called off the projects. The Okinawa prefectural government and base-hosting municipalities therefore welcomed Koike as defense minister, viewing her as a person of understanding for Okinawa. In her July 31 press remarks, however, Koike hinted at freezing the northern area development projects, for which the government makes it a precondition to facilitate consultations on Futenma relocation. Koike stated: "At this point, Okinawa has yet to accept the government's proposal for an environmental assessment. We'd like to facilitate consultations (with Okinawa's prefectural and municipal governments)." Officials from Okinawa's prefectural and municipal governments are now beginning to voice criticism. One local official said, "The government is trying to press Okinawa to accept its proposal of an environmental assessment while showing off its intention to freeze the projects." Furthermore, in the recent House of Councillors election, a unified candidate running from the opposition camp swamped an LDP candidate up for reelection. This is also a matter of concern to the Defense Ministry. The opposition parties are expected to demonstrate Okinawa's public opinion to Nakaima as shown in the election. As it stands, the opposition camp is highly likely to call for the governor to assume a strong attitude in his negotiations with the government. The government has a bitter experience. In 2004, after the crash of a Futenma-based US military helicopter in Okinawa, Gov. Keiichi Inamine at the time was under pressure from the opposition parties. TOKYO 00003548 004 OF 008 Inamine squared off with the government. A Defense Ministry source voiced concern, saying: "The upper house is now controlled by the opposition parties, so the Kantei (prime minister's office) will be driven to deal with the Diet. I wonder if the Kantei can afford to turn its eyes to the realignment of US forces in Japan." 13) DPJ to submit pension-related bill to Upper House YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) August 3, 2007 Naoto Kan, acting president of Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), revealed yesterday in a press conference that his party would submit a bill banning the use of pension premiums for other purposes than pension benefits to the House of Councillors in the upcoming extraordinary Diet session planned to convene on Aug. 7. He stated: "Our party is discussing whether we can submit the bill to the Upper House." Kan also said: "Presenting an important bill related to the pension record mismanagement issue, which was the major campaign issue in the Upper House race, will become a significant message to the public as our effort to implement our pledges in the election." The DPJ apparently aims to play up its presence in the Upper House, which the opposition now controls. DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa told those who had contracted hepatitis-C through tainted blood that his party would start discussion on the drafting of a bill to deal with hepatitis-B and C caused by contaminated blood products. The party will begin discussion on the issue on Aug. 8 in order to submit the bill to the extraordinary Diet session in the fall. Besides assistance for medical fees, the party reportedly is considering forcing the government to admit its responsibility for the matter so that the lawsuits will be resolved. 14) Government mulling major concession to DPJ on amakudari regulations TOKYO SHIMBUN (Top Play) (Excerpts) August 3, 2007 The government started yesterday considering the possibility of calling on the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to hold talks and then to make a major concession on the DPJ bill designed to root out the practice of government officials finding employment in the private sector after retirement (amakudari). The DPJ plans to submit the bill to the House of Councillors in the extraordinary Diet session in the fall. Now that the opposition camp has control of the Upper House, the government and the ruling camp will be inevitably placed in a difficult situation in steering Diet affairs, but they plan to compromise to the DPJ where they can. This new approach on amakudari restrictions is likely to draw attention as a model case of the government making a significant concession. In the last ordinary Diet session, the government passed a bill amending the Civil Service Law to totally ban government agencies from helping their officials find reemployment. The law also proposes an exchange center for public and private personnel: a TOKYO 00003548 005 OF 008 human-resource bank. An experts' panel has discussed how the envisioned center should be operated. Meanwhile, the DPJ intends to submit the bill that was rejected in the last ordinary Diet session. The bill includes severe restrictions on amakudari. The government and the Liberal Democratic Party now judges it possible to make concessions on these measures: (1) Prohibit government agencies from encouraging their staff to retire early; (2) abolish the concept of a new human-resource bank; and (3) apply the amakudari regulations to independent administrative agencies' staff. 15) Personnel vacancies, including next BOJ governor, could remain if DPJ rejects nominees; Appointments at 35 bodies require approval of both Diet chambers YOMIURI (Top Play) (Excerpts) August 3, 2007 The future course of key personnel appointments that require Diet approval, such the Bank of Japan (BOJ) governor and auditors of the Board of Audit (BOA),has become unclear due to the opposition takeover of the Upper House. Appointments of key officials require approval of both the Lower and Upper Houses. However, there is no second-decision rule for personnel management unlike the case with bills. As such, if personnel selections are voted down in the Upper House, the proposals will be rendered null and void. Since the DPJ has been opposing some personnel selections involving former bureaucrats, government agencies, which are now in the process of personnel transfers, are in great fear. Personnel selections at 35 organizations involving about 230 posts will require Diet approval. Such posts include the BOJ governor, auditors of the Board of Audit, public interest members of the Central Social Insurance Medical Council, personnel officers of the National Personnel Authority, and members of the Nuclear Safety Commission. Relevant laws stipulate that the cabinet appoints officials to those posts based on the approval of both chambers of the Diet. The BOJ Law stipulates the appointment of a BOJ governor, and the BOA Law provides the appointment of BOA auditors. One of the three BOA auditors will leave next February. The term of the BOJ governor will expire next March. The term of some of committee members of 11 bodies, including the Transport Council, will also expire. The government plans to submit personnel selections to replace those whose term expires within the year to the extraordinary Diet session in the fall. 16) Opposition parties seeking own policy identities may erode joint struggle as DPJ emerges as sole-winner in election YOMIURI (Page 4) (Excerpts) August 3, 2007 The chairmen of the Diet Policy Committees of three opposition parties -- the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto),the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the People's New Party (PNP) -- yesterday met for the first time since the Upper House Election. With the DPJ having won an overwhelming victory in the election, other opposition parties are now trying to display their own policy identities. There may be cases in which the DPJ will be pressed to make concessions to the others. TOKYO 00003548 006 OF 008 SDP Diet Policy Committee Chairman Yasumasa Shigeno during the meeting urged: "The DPJ has won the Upper House election and become the largest party. However, it does not have a working majority. We would like it to serve as the pivot of joint struggles by opposition parties." Shigeno sought to constrain the DPJ from going off on its own in the Diet. DPJ Diet Policy Committee Chairman Yoshiaki Takagi stressed a stance of giving consideration to a joint struggles, noting, "Doing it while lending an ear to other opposition parties' stances will produce overall strength." The DPJ is giving consideration to a joint struggle because it wants to appeal to the public that it can secure Upper House passage of DPJ-sponsored bills, instead of being seen as just voting down bills introduced by the government and ruling parties, as one senior official put it. Takagi sought cooperation from Shigeno and others for the introduction of a bill prohibiting the diversion of pension funds for other purposes, such as the construction of welfare facilities. The SDP and the PNP will likely agree basically. However, there are gaps between the DPJ and other opposition parties in their approaches to a number of other issues. 17) Ruling coalition already asks key cabinet posts, LDP factions seek consideration YOMIURI (Page 4) (Excerpts) August 3, 2007 The Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have already engaged in skirmishes over the appointments of cabinet and LDP executive posts in the expected shuffle of the cabinet and the party's leadership. In the wake of the LDP's stunning defeat in Sunday's House of Councillors election, Prime Minister SHINZO ABE intends to rebuild his political footing by forming a unified party arrangement by shuffling the cabinet and LDP executive posts. In this connection, requests and views were raised in meetings yesterday of the LDP factions. Taku Yamasaki, a former LDP vice president, indicated a stance of cooperating with ABE in rebuilding the party, saying: "Since (Abe has insisted the need for) all the party to be represented, we (Yamasaki faction) want to play an important role." Yamasaki, at the same time, urged ABE to appoint LDP members from various factions, toting: "The reward-oriented appointment era is over. He should immediately dissolve the 'cabinet made up of his friends' and pick more capable persons from the party." Masahiko Komura, a former foreign minister, said in a meeting of his faction: "The prime minister should reflect on what he should reflect and send a message about his policy to the public. To that end, I want him to select appropriate persons in the cabinet and LDP posts." Last September when he formed his cabinet and the LDP executive lineup soon after he won a landslide in the LDP presidential race, he gave many key posts to lawmakers, who have close ties with him, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, giving no consideration to factional intentions. As a result, many in the LDP TOKYO 00003548 007 OF 008 expressed dissatisfaction. A senior Niwa-Koga faction member said that ABE picked only those having close ties with him. Pressure on Abe from within the LDP will likely strengthen due to the party's crashing defeat in the Upper House poll as well as the dismissal of Agriculture Minister Akagi. 18) New Komeito adjusting distance with the ABE administration, having suffered deep scars from the election defeat MAINICHI (Page 5) (Excerpt) August 3, 2007 The New Komeito, having tasted defeat in the recent Upper House election when it became caught up in the voter backlash against the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP),began its own summation of the election, starting with a meeting of central officers yesterday. The results of the election in which the party could not hold on to its 13 seats but ended up with 9 seats, stunned the party and left it in a stupor. There are scars from the failure of its cooperation with the LDP to produce results. In addition, views are coming out now from the party for the Komeito to distance itself from the ABE administration by strengthening its own policy lines, such as on the issue of amending the Constitution. For party head Ota, steering the helm of the New Komeito will be a tough task. 19) Special Advisor Seko in charge of public relations: I no longer say "a beautiful country" YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) August 3, 2007 "I never talked about your policy of creating 'a beautiful country' in my stumping speeches," Special Advisor on Public Relations Hiroshige Seko told Prime Minister SHINZO Abe. Seko was reelected from the Wakayama prefectural district in Sunday's House of Councillors election. Seko, who is in charge of national movement to promote Abe's policy of creating a beautiful country, appears to have urged the prime minister to revise his policy after going thorough an uphill battle in the campaign for the Upper House election. Abe often played up his "beautiful country" policy during his campaign trial in local areas. However, his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) suffered a crushing defeat in the electoral districts where one seat was up for reelection, winning only six seats of 29, and losing 23. Although Seko won, he was unable to shout "banzai" and smile due to the LDP's devastating setback. Seko also told Abe: "I think we should come up with measures to improve the livelihoods of people to keep a balance with constitutional reform." The prime minister, who reportedly listened to Seko in a serious manner, has continued to talk about his "beautiful country" policy even after the Upper House election. 20) Japan-US talks on US beef to discuss easing import conditions resumed ASAHI (Page 10) (Full) August 3, 2007 Japan-US talks on easing US beef import conditions resumed in Tokyo yesterday. Responsible officials and experts from both countries TOKYO 00003548 008 OF 008 will discuss BSE measures and the safety of US beef at a two-day meeting. The bilateral meeting started in late June. This is the second round. Like the previous round, Japan is asking the US to provide the latest information and explanations on its safety measures, including a feed regulation to prevent BSE infection. The US has reportedly prepared the latest data running to several hundreds pages, including data on BSE inspection results. Japan currently sets an import condition that limits beef eligible for exports to cattle aged 20 months or younger, which are believed to have a low BSE risk. It also requires the removal of specified risk materials. The US has elaborated on the efficacy of the feed regulation and the safety of US beef, based on latest data. At the outset of the meeting, representing Japanese participants, Koichi Mizushima, director of the Second North America Division of the Foreign Ministry, said, "Our understanding of the present state of the US risk control measures has deepened." If Japan judges that the US has provided data with sufficient details, the current round of the talks joined by experts will be the last. The arrangement is that the talks will shift to the next step -- negotiations to revise concrete conditions, and if a settlement is reached there, the Japanese government will consult the Cabinet Offices' Food Safety Commission about the easing of the import conditions. SCHIEFFER