DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 11/25/08

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 003233 SIPDIS DEPT FOR E, P, EB, EAP/J, EAP/P, EAP/PD, PA; WHITE HOUSE/NSC/NEC; JUSTICE FOR STU CHEMTOB IN ANTI-TRUST DIVISION; TREASURY/OASIA/IMI/JAPAN; DEPT PASS USTR/PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE; SECDEF FOR JCS-J-5/JAPAN, DASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN; DEPT PASS ELECTRONICALLY TO USDA FAS/ITP FOR SCHROETER; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR; CINCPAC FLT/PA/ COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA. E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA SUBJECT: DAILY SUMMARY OF JAPANESE PRESS 11/25/08 INDEX: (1) Aso administration's three distresses in two months (Mainichi) (2) Conflict may be sparked in ruling camp over policy debates on road revenues, postal services, public servant reform (Nikkei) (3) New Komeito in anguish over administration straying off course: Eager to build channels with shy premier (Tokyo Shimbun) (4) New York Federal Reserve Bank President Geithner picked as treasury secretary (Yomiuri) (5) We must not have overconfidence in MD system (Yomiuri) (6) ASDF chief of staff's firing and freedom of thought, creed (Sankei) (7) TOP HEADLINES (8) EDITORIALS (9) Prime Minister's schedule, November 23 & 24 (Nikkei) ARTICLES: (1) Aso administration's three distresses in two months MAINICHI (Page 5) (Full) November 25, 2008 Prime Minister Taro Aso marked his second month in office yesterday by winding up a visit to Lima, Peru, through which he had aimed to boost his administration's popularity. Aso is expected to lead his Liberal Democratic Party into the next general election for the House of Representatives. However, the divided Diet has made a fool of him, caused him trouble by the absence of a control tower, and exposed his tendency to make careless remarks. This 'triple distress' are the elements that weakened former governments. Some have contended that the Aso administration will gradually become administrations that failed before him. "When seeing the present government, I don't understand that why we (the cabinet of former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda) had to resign," former Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said many times to government officials in a recent meeting. Talks ended in failure between Aso and Ichiro Ozawa, president of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ),over a second supplementary for fiscal 2008. There is no change in the situation of the Diet being divided. The government has had difficulties in managing Diet affairs just as the previous government did. In his policy speech delivered on Sept. 29, Aso criticized the DPJ's tactics to control the Diet. He has yet to find the "consensus-building rule,' to which he referred in his policy speech. A senior LDP member said with a touch of self-derision: "In next year's regular Diet session, the ruling coalition will bulldoze votes or take second votes in the Lower House." Aso's policy of placing priority on policy rather than political motives has not yet realized. Aso has repeatedly changed his tune regarding a fixed cash payout plan. Many LDP members have criticized Aso's policy of distributing 1 trillion yen from road tax revenues TOKYO 00003233 002 OF 010 to local governments. Aso, however, has taken a bullish attitude, saying: "I think it is a problem if no view is raised. But one senior ministry official lamented: "No policy measures have been implemented yet." All the more because Aso is the only box office star in his cabinet, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura has not been able to display his political presence. This situation is similar to the cabinet of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who installed his aides in the posts of the Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei). A senior New Komeito member is now urging Aso to shuffle the Kantei staff, saying: "Persons like Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Tadamori Oshima should join the staff." Aso's making careless remarks is serious, however. His remark that doctors lack common sense was a terrible gaffe. Furthermore, his remark that there is a rule that the state-owned shares of Japan Post Holding Corporation have to be sold before the end of the year was criticized for being factually wrong. There are views backing Aso, such as his being tired, but if Aso does nothing, he might commit the same error as former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who lost the support of the people. Aso administration's 'triple distress' and examples in former cabinets Divided Diet Prime Minister Aso delayed Lower House dissolution. His meeting with DPJ President Ozawa over second extra budget failed. Aso will put the new refueling bill to second vote in the Lower House by extending the current extra Diet session. Fukuda cabinet Meeting between Fukuda and Ozawa ended in failure. Three bills, including one extending the antiterrorism law, were put to second votes in the lower chamber. Absence of control tower Since Chief Cabinet Secretary Kawamura and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsumoto failed to serve as coordinator, confusion was created regarding fixed benefit payments plan and 1 trillion yen distribution from the central government to local government. Abe cabinet Prime Minister Abe formed 'friend cabinet.' Although Abe gave five prime ministerial assistant posts to his aides, the Kantei-leadership was not realized. Careless remarks Aso repeatedly changed remarks on the fixed benefit payments and other issues. He apologized to medical association for saying doctors lacked common sense. He misread Chinese characters. Mori cabinet Mori made such gaffes as Japan being a divine nation; unaffiliated voters not going to vote being good. His qualifications as prime minister were questioned. (2) Conflict may be sparked in ruling camp over policy debates on road revenues, postal services, public servant reform TOKYO 00003233 003 OF 010 NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) November 25, 2008 Ahead of budget compilation for next fiscal year and fundamental tax system reform in December, the government and the ruling camp will soon start work to flesh out key policy measures. Views are split in the ruling camp, however, on such policy issues as road revenues, postal services, and the reform of the public-servant system. Depending on the contents of the decisions, there could be a serious impact on the administration of government. In an executive meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party's Tax System Research Commission on Nov. 20, former Finance Minister Koji Omi said: "The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) plans to submit a bill calling for lowering the current provisional road-related tax rates next year. Do you think we will be able to win the next election if we vote down the bill? The voters may not understand our call for using tax revenues for other purposes than highway construction and maintenance and for keeping the current tax rates unchanged." Omi even added: "What the DPJ says is more rational." Coordination bogging down on tax rate Prime Minister Taro Aso has ordered: "More than 1.3 trillion yen in road-specific tax revenues should be distributed to local governments." If the government allocates some of the tax revenues to local governments for other purposes than highway maintenance and also lowers the road-specific tax rates, the highway-related budget may significantly shrink. The only option left for the LDP would be to move road tax revenues into the general budget and to keep the provisional tax rate untouched. Executive members of the LDP's policy research and tax research panels decided to continue the current automobile-related tax rates, including the provisional tax rates, for another three years or so. In the ruling camp, the New Komeito has been calling for cutting the automobile weight tax. With the focus of attention on what specific amount the prime minister has in mind in his 1.3-trillion-yen proposal, coordination on auto-related taxes is expected to run into a road block. Former Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa noted on his website on Nov. 21: "If the government suspends postal reform, reformists like me will have no other choice but to take countermeasures, making a crucial decision." The attack is directed at the prime minister, who referred to a freeze on the planned sale of state-owned shares in companies under Japan Post Holdings Co., as well as at the LDP members aiming at changing the course of postal-service privatization. In the LDP Policy Research Council, a taskforce examining the privatization of postal services is now looking into making proposals going against the trend of privatization. In such a case, Nakagawa and junior advocates of postal reform will inevitably react fiercely. Rise in revolt against Kantei The proposed reform of the public servant system may also trigger conflict. Former Administrative Reform Minister Yoshimi Watanabe and other LDP members have criticized the government's reform plan as too slipshod. A plan to create a cabinet personnel bureau, the centerpiece of the government's reform plan, is now likely to be TOKYO 00003233 004 OF 010 postponed. Watanabe, Yasuhisa Shiozaki, and other LDP members called on Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura on Nov. 21 to submit a second extra budget bill for fiscal 2008 to the current Diet session, rising revolt against the Prime Minister's Office (Kantei). Those critical of the government's public servant reform plan are also in favor of the government submitting a second extra budget bill during the current session. Nakagawa and Watanabe are in close contacted with each other, so Nakagawa had been notified of Watanabe's plan to call for a second budget bill beforehand. Anti-Aso moves can also be detected in their moves (3) New Komeito in anguish over administration straying off course: Eager to build channels with shy premier TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 2) (Full) November 25, 2008 The ruling parties and the New Komeito are in anguish over the erratically-struggling Aso administration. They cannot trust Prime Minister Aso because he keeps committing gaffes. The New Komeito cannot afford to secede from the administration as the party must survive the next Lower House election. They are searching for ways to build channels with the prime minister, by sealing off their discontent with the delayed dissolution of the Lower House. New Komeito head Akihiro Ota told the prime minister, who was seated across the table from him: "We have barely had opportunities to exchange candid opinions. However, I hope we can have a meeting like this on various occasions in the future." A dinner meeting of senior officials of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the New Komeito Party was held at the Prime Minister's Office (Kantei) on the evening of November 18. It was the first such an occasion since the administration was launched in late September. Ota, who had been eager to have a Lower House dissolution before year's end, was busy making preparations for a Diet dissolution in October, right after the launch of the Aso administration. He was so busy that he attended parties only three times. However, the prime minister inclined to delay the timing of dissolving the Lower House in response to a strong request from his aides, including Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who were dubbed his "friends." Secretary General Kazuo Kitagawa, who served as New Komeito Policy Affairs Research Council chairman when Aso served in the same post in the LDP, was supposed to serve as a channel between the New Komeito and the prime minister. However, the prime minister's decision to delay a Lower House dissolution made the New Komeito acutely feel that it has no channel that will enable it to have "heart-to-heart communication with the prime minister." Ota admits that he had had few contacts with the prime minister. He told persons close to him: "It would be troublesome if we have no prospects for the timing of a Lower House dissolution. We must make contact with his friends.'" Ota visited the Kantei three times in November. He also made contact with Aso's "friends." However, the distance between Ota and the prime minister has hardly narrowed. That is because unlike former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, TOKYO 00003233 005 OF 010 with whom Ota occasionally had talks on the management of the Diet, Aso is reluctant to build new ties, as one senior New Komeito official noted. Now that Lower House dissolution is most likely to be delayed until early in the new year or later, the New Komeito envisages a strategy of rolling into a Lower House dissolution at the outset of the regular Diet session to be convened in January next year with the fiscal 2008 second supplementary budget bill and the fiscal 2009 budget bill as the campaign issues. However, if the government and the ruling parties suffer a more setback, their scenario would be derailed, forcing it to revise it. One senior New Komeito official said, "We are in such a desperate situation that we have no other choice but to tell the prime minister, 'If the situation remains as is, we cannot cooperate with the LDP on the election, because we are tied up.'" Their discontent, which was once sealed off, is beginning to emerge in the form of irritation at the administration's straying off course. (4) New York Federal Reserve Bank President Geithner picked as treasury secretary YOMIURI (Page 1) (Full) November 22, 2008 The selection of President Timothy Geithner of the New York Federal Reserve Bank under the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) as treasury secretary has been firmed up. As the right-hand man of FRB Chairman Bernanke, he has been spearheading efforts to deal with the financial crisis, including the bailout or closing of major financial institutions, such as Bear Stearns. He was involved in capital injection into financial institutions led by Treasury Secretary Paulson, based on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. He served as undersecretary of treasury (responsible for international affair) between 1999 and 2001 during the Clinton administration. He was assigned to the American Embassy in Tokyo before serving in that post. He is well versed in the bad loan problem that Japan faced at the time. He has a good command of Japanese. Summers, who is likely to be appointed to be presidential assistant (responsible for economic affairs),served as treasury secretary during the Clinton administration. He is a well-known economist. (5) We must not have overconfidence in MD system YOMIURI (Page 11) (Full) November 22, 2008 The Chokai, a Maritime Self-Defense Force Aegis-equipped destroyer, failed to intercept a ballistic missile in a missile intercept test conducted in waters off Hawaii. On Nov. 20, at 11:24 a.m. (Japan time),about three minuets after a mock ballistic missile was launched from Kauai, the Chokai launched an SM-3 intercept missile. The SM-3 is a three-stage intercept missile. The launched SM-3 interceptor was continuing its flight TOKYO 00003233 006 OF 010 controlled by the Chokai's radar tracking the mock missile until its third stage was separated. However, the SM-3's third-stage warhead is designed to open its 'eyes' and home in on a heat source with infrared rays. The SM-3 interceptor lost sight of the target right before hitting the mock missile, according to the MSDF's account. The SM-3 missile's third-stage warhead flies for several seconds. On the screen of a monitoring room at the U.S. Navy's missile range was the SM-3 interceptor's separated third-stage projectile flying toward the mock ballistic missile. "The moment I thought it hit," an MSDF staff officer said. "it veered." The last intercept test, conducted in December last year, was a success. This time, however, the test was carried out with its difficulty level raised. Unlike in the previous test, the MSDF was not informed of what time the mock ballistic missile would be launched. The Chokai successfully picked and tracked the mock missile. The MSDF and the U.S. Navy are now looking into the cause of the intercept test's failure. However, an MSDF staff officer said: "Everything was normal up until the third stage's separation. It's highly likely that there was something wrong with the warhead." However, the failure this time had been anticipated. An MSDF officer confessed: "Even a missile developed with state-of-the-art technologies is a man-made tool. It's unavoidable that there will be something wrong with the machine at the rate of a certain percent." The U.S. military has also failed in three of 15 tests. In the summer of this year, the U.S. Navy conducted a rim-of-the-Pacific exercise (RIMPAC),with the participation of the Aegis destroyer Kirishima from the MSDF. The Kirishima was to launch four SM-2 antiaircraft missiles. However, one of the four missiles misfired. The cost of the MSDF's participation in the test this time was 6.2 billion yen. The government has invested a huge amount of money over 30 billion yen for each Aegis ship's renovation to mount a missile defense (MD) system. The MSDF renovated four Aegis ships, and their renovation costs added up to 120 billion yen. The possibility of missile glitches is closely intertwined with cost efficiency. Japan and the United States are going to co-develop an advanced version of the SM-3 (Block 2A) with enhanced thrust and destructive power. Even this enhanced missile is not exceptional. Then, the question is what to do. The MD system, currently in place against ballistic missiles, is a two-tier intercept system, which is made of the SM-3, a sea-based missile mounted on Aegis ships, and the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3),a ground-based missile that is to back up the SM-3 and shoot down missed projectiles. However, the PAC-3's defensive area is small. To defend Japan in its entirety, there will be no choice but to raise the SM-3's targeting accuracy. However, the SM-3 could have glitches. In addition, several missiles may be launched as North Korea test-fired seven ballistic missiles in 2006. In that case, the MD system is highly likely to miss them. In the present-day military technology, the MD system is the only way to shoot down intruding ballistic missiles. However, the government should explain that the MD system is not a perfect weapon. In its white paper for this year, the Defense Ministry says TOKYO 00003233 007 OF 010 it will be possible for an Aegis ship to cover all over Japan in its future defense. However, we must not be overconfident. The MD system is still likely to miss ballistic missiles. Given this, the government should also review Japan's antimissile readiness. The MD system may intercept the first-launched ballistic missile. However, what if second and third ballistic missiles are launched at Japan? Will Japan wait to intercept them in the same way? Then, the question is whether Japan should acquire the capability of striking missile sites. Isn't it about time to seriously discuss this issue? Such a multilayered defense buildup will lead to deterrence. (6) ASDF chief of staff's firing and freedom of thought, creed SANKEI (Page 13) (Full) November 21, 2008 Akira Momochi, professor at Nihon University This is what I was concerned about. Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) Chief of Staff Toshio Tamogami has been sacked, and the Defense Ministry has now begun an investigation of the essays that many ASDF officers submitted with Tamogami to an contest. The Sankei Shimbun carried an article about this defense inspection in its Nov. 15 edition. According to the article, defense inspections are generally intended to investigate such misconducts as back-scratching with contractors. The article points out that the Defense Ministry's inspection of what someone wrote in an essay is an unusual case. It also says such an investigation has caused a strong backlash, with such comments as that this could lead to intruding into freedom of thought and belief. Indeed, In assessing the Tamogami problem, there may be room for criticism if an officer, in this case one who held the key post of ASDF chief of staff, submits a public essay that runs counter to the government's view (Murayama statement),even though it is within the bounds if it were a personal view. In other words, the freedom of expression of a public official or officer is unavoidably restricted to a certain extent. However, freedom of thought and creed is another story. After Tamogami's sacking, however, the tone of the press and politicians in the opposition parties turned critical about what he had written in the essay. Some blamed Tamogami, implying he was a dangerous person, while others tended to denounce his thought or his view of history itself. This is fraught with serious problems that cannot be overlooked under the Constitution. To look back on the series of developments, I have some questions. First, a top brass officer of the Self-Defense Forces made public a view that differs from the government's view, even though it was his own personal view. Was this a problem? Second, Tamogami publicized his essay without reporting it in written form to his supervisor, going against the Defense Ministry's internal regulations. Was this, too, a problem? And third, an SDF echelon officer has thoughts (or a view of history) that go against the Murayama statement. Was this a problem? Although these points were left ambiguous, action to dismiss him went ahead. The Defense Ministry even began a defense inspection. TOKYO 00003233 008 OF 010 In that respect, the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Tokyo Shimbun said in their Nov. 2 editorials that each individual is free to have any kind of perception about history. However, the two dailies also said the problem is that the ASDF's top brass officer made public a view that is incompatible with the government's view. The Sankei Shimbun said in its Nov. 2 editorial that if anyone in the SDF is not allowed even to raise a question about the government's view, that is a problem. What the Sankei Shimbun asserted can be taken as reasonable. In the meantime, the Asahi Shimbun and the Mainichi Shimbun criticized Tamogami's view itself as "distorted thinking" or "a distorted view of history." Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto) President Ichiro Ozawa also commented on a Nov. 3 NHK TV news program: "Although the government was aware that he held such opinions (or such a view of history),the government appointed him to the post of ASDF chief of staff. So the government is responsible." If so, Ozawa's assertion can be taken to mean that the government in its appointments or promotions to the SDF's chief of staff posts and all other government office posts must eliminate anyone whose thinking goes against the Murayama Statement. New Komeito Policy Research Council Chairman Natsuo Yamaguchi was also quoted by the Tokyo Shimbun in its Nov. 2 edition as saying: "If the SDF's top brass and all others in the SDF have a similar way of thinking, they must be reeducated." This also can be taken to mean that the SDF must propagandize its members. I wonder if they have forgotten that the Constitution's Article 19 guarantees freedom of thought and creed. Freedom of thought and creed (conscience) means that the people are absolutely free to take any view as long as such remains in their hearts. It also means that the state must not force or forbid any specific thought on the people, that the state must not discriminate against the people for their thought or creed, and that the state must not compel the people to express their thought (freedom of silence). The opposition parties and the media criticized Tamogami's thought itself as inappropriate for the ASDF chief of staff post, and the Defense Ministry conducted a 'thought investigation' of SDF members in the name of defense inspection. This smacks of violating the Constitution. The Murayama Statement, from the start, is no more than Prime Minister Murayama's personal view. He stated: "Our country followed a mistaken national policy at one time not distant in the past, and its colonial rule and aggression inflicted serious damage and pain on many countries." Accordingly, he also stated: "I express a strong feeling of remorse again and express a feeling of apology from the bottom of my heart." The Murayama cabinet went so far as to adopt this statement. It has therefore shackled the government and even cabinet ministers thereafter. However, each and every person is completely free to have any view of history. Some segments of the media take the Murayama Statement as absolute and never allow anyone to criticize it. Such a tendency is extremely dangerous. Nevertheless, they have reiterated a question asking each new prime minister if he will follow the 'Murayama Statement." And this time around, they have denounced the sacked ASDF chief of staff, based on the Murayama statement. This has become the allegiance test today. I believe that we should TOKYO 00003233 009 OF 010 break away from such an corrupt practice at once and retract the Murayama statement as early as possible. (7) TOP HEADLINES Asahi: Mainichi: Yomiuri: Sankei: Tokyo Shimbun Suspect in ex-bureaucrat assaults plotted to kill 10 more people Nikkei: Bailout of Citigroup: Government to guarantee its assets worth 29 trillion yen: Additional injection of 1.9 trillion yen Akahata: Exchange meeting of Association of Article 9 (8) EDITORIALS Asahi: (1) Business slump and global warming: Time to boost domestic demand for greenery Mainichi: (1) Substantial dip in tax revenues: Starting point for fiscal reconstruction (2) New strains of flu: Government's crisis control system to be tested Yomiuri: (1) APEC statement: Abide by agreement reached in WTO talks (2) College contribution to regional areas: Challenges is to build networks Nikkei: (1) U.S. financial crisis moves into new phase (2) Efficacy of agreement reached at APEC questioned Sankei: (1) APEC: More efforts needed to overcome crisis (2) Midterm account settlement Tokyo Shimbun: (1) Major mergers in Heisei period: Time to verify merits and demerits (2) Promotion of food education: Clue to self-reliance of regions Akahata: (1) Government should negotiate with U.S. government for return of Okinawa ocean area designated for U.S. military drill TOKYO 00003233 010 OF 010 (9) Prime Minister's schedule, November 23 & 24 NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) November 25, 2008 Nov. 23 Noon Posed for a group photo at the Peruvian Army General Headquarters. Issued an APEC statement. Afternoon Attended a luncheon meeting with other state leaders at the President's Official Residence. Held a press conference with Japanese and foreign correspondents at the Japan-Peru Cultural Center in Lima City. Night Met the chairman of the Association of Japanese Peruvians and others. Left Lima International Airport by government plane. Nov. 24 Early morning Arrived in Los Angeles for refueling. SCHIEFFER