Japan's Kishida names foreign minister

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has picked as foreign minister a lawmaker well versed in Sino-Japanese relations, in an announcement fresh on the heels of the legislature's formal endorsement of Kishida as holder of the nation's top political office.

Kishida chose Yoshimasa Hayashi as the country's diplomat after a special parliamentary session on Wednesday that followed the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's victory in an election for the House of Representatives on Oct 31.

In the special session, Kishida was reelected by the lawmakers as prime minister because his party secured 261 seats in the 465-member lower house－the more powerful of Japan's two-chamber legislature.

Hayashi, a former education minister, heads a nonpartisan lawmakers' group that promotes Japan-China relations. His appointment to the key role came as Kishida retained most of the cabinet members he named upon taking office on Oct 4.

"The Kishida government's basic stance is to listen carefully to the voices of the people and speedily carry out policies to address their worries about the coronavirus, hopes for economic recovery and sense of crisis about the increasingly severe international situation," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference on Wednesday.

Economic growth

Matsuno said the government had set up a number of committees for realizing Kishida's vision of "new capitalism", which focuses on economic growth and the redistribution of wealth.

Earlier, former foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi was named the LDP's secretary-general, replacing Akira Amari, who was unexpectedly defeated in his single-seat district in the lower house election.

Commenting on Kishida's reelection in the legislature, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Wednesday: "We hope China and Japan can meet each other half way, deepen cooperation in various fields" and "properly manage and control differences".

Yu Qiang, a professor of Japan studies at the University of International Relations in Beijing, said the better-than-expected election results for the lower house strengthened Kishida's grip on power. By naming a foreign minister from his own LDP faction, Kishida will have more "independence" in promoting his own political agenda.

Hayashi entered politics in 1995 by winning a seat in the House of Councilors and became the No 2 leader of an LDP faction led by Kishida after being elected to the lower house for the first time on Oct 31.

Hayashi was picked in 2017 as head of the nonpartisan parliamentary group promoting Japan-China friendship and, as such, was seen as holding a "pro-China" stance by conservatives in the LDP.

When asked about his attitude toward Beijing, the 60-year-old Hayashi said on Monday that he will "focus on Japan's national interests", and that Japan needed people with knowledge of China, but added that it was important not to pander to Beijing.

Separately, former prime minister Shinzo Abe is on the brink of making a symbolic political comeback by rejoining the LDP's largest faction as its head, local media reported.