(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-26 07:11

TOKYO: Japan's parliament elected Yasuo Fukuda as prime minister yesterday and the political veteran immediately named a Cabinet that overlapped considerably with the lineup of his predecessor in an apparent bid to limit disruption following Shinzo Abe's shock resignation earlier this month.

Premier Wen Jiabao sent a congratulatory message to Fukuda, saying that the Chinese government will, "as always, stick to the policy of friendly relations with Japan, and is willing to work together to forge China-Japan strategic relations of mutual benefits and promote the sound, stable and long-term development of bilateral ties".

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also congratulated his Japanese counterpart Masahiko Komura.

In his first news conference as prime minister, Fukuda, 71, vowed to push for the extension of Japan's naval mission in support of US-led forces in Afghanistan.

He also vowed to clear up a scandal over the loss of millions of pension records and to regain the public's trust in politics.

Fukuda has pledged to keep Japan as a strong US ally in the fight against terrorism, improve relations with Asia, and provide assistance to rural areas left behind in Japan's economic recovery.

Fukuda also said that he will not pay homage at the Yasukuni Shrine, where Japanese war dead, including war criminals of World War II, are enshrined.

Fukuda named the former foreign minister Nobutaka Machimura as chief cabinet secretary, and conservative Komura as foreign minister. The moderate Shigeru Ishiba was appointed defense minister, while Fukushiro Nukaga was retained as finance minister.

Chinese scholars said Sino-Japanese links featuring a wide range of economic collaboration are likely to be strengthened through Fukuda's relatively moderate diplomatic policy.

"Fukuda is a neo-liberalist who prefers to solve problems through negotiations rather than act tough," said Yan Xuetong, deputy head of the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University.

"He is likely to bring a breath of fresh air to the Sino-Japanese relationship."

Yan also said that Fukuda's new Cabinet members are all in the same camp, which is pragmatic and lays great store in economic cooperation with China.

Huang Dahui, a professor at Renmin University of China, said that Fukuda's advice to build a new, secular memorial to commemorate the war dead instead of Yasukuni Shrine is a possible way to tackle historical issues and promote Sino-Japanese relations.

Nevertheless, the relationship with Washington will remain at the core of Japan's foreign ties, Huang added.

"He will not deviate far from Abe's line of a tight alliance with the US, which has always been the corner stone of Japan's foreign policy."

Agencies - China Daily

(China Daily 09/26/2007 page1)