MAPUTO – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggested Sunday that nuclear power should not be the main focus of the closely watched Tokyo gubernatorial election on Feb. 9.
In response to growing speculation that former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, a key contender in the race, will call for ending Japan’s use of nuclear power, Abe said: “Energy policy is an issue for not only Tokyoites but all the people in Japan.
“Energy issues will of course likely be discussed, but balanced debate is also necessary for other issues that must be dealt with by a Tokyo governor,” he told reporters in the Mozambique capital. Abe, who is considered pro-nuclear, is in Maputo on the third leg of his weeklong tour of four Middle East and African nations.
In the gubernatorial election, Hosokawa is apparently aiming to seek an alliance with ex-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who is also in favor of a nuclear-free society. Koizumi has retired from politics but he is still popular with the public and his remarks tend to attract wide media coverage.
Abe said that key issues in the election will include reducing to zero the number of children waiting to enter nurseries, ensuring the success of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, and beefing up measures to minimize damage from disasters, including a projected huge earthquake that could occur directly beneath Tokyo.
Those who have declared they plan to run in the election include former Japan Federation of Bar Associations President Kenji Utsunomiya, former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe and former Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Toshio Tamogami.
On when the government may change its interpretation of the Constitution in order to enable the nation to exercise its right to engage in collective self-defense, Abe said, “I have not decided a specific schedule.”
Yosuke Isozaki, an aide to Abe and a member of the House of Councilors, has said that the government is expected to revise its interpretation during the regular Diet session that is expected to convene Jan. 24.
But Abe, the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, stopped short of specifying when the reinterpretation will take place, apparently due to the hesitance on the part of Buddhist-backed New Komeito, the LDP’s junior partner in the ruling bloc.
Abe stressed his government’s resolve to secure early enactment of the fiscal 2013 supplementary budget, which mainly includes spending on economic stimulus measures, as well as the full fiscal 2014 budget, in the coming 150-day Diet session through June 22.
On the Jan. 19 mayoral election in Nago, Okinawa, Abe said, “The government is determined to do all it can to reduce Okinawa’s heavy burden of hosting U.S. bases by seriously consider the feelings of the people there.”
The biggest issue in the local election is the plan by the Japanese and U.S. governments to build an airstrip on Nago’s Henoko coast to replace U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is in the congested city of Ginowan.
The election will be closely watched as it comes after Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima last month approved the central government’s application to begin filling in offshore areas of Henoko for the planned runways.
“The Futenma base should never be allowed to remain at its current location permanently,” Abe said, noting it is “extremely important” to ensure that accidents and other dangers related to Futenma will not occur while its replacement base is being built.
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