news

on september 12, the ruling liberal democratic party of japan announced the presidential election.a new round of competition for the presidency has begun. previously, the current japanese prime minister and liberal democratic party president fumio kishida has announced that he will not run for the election, which also means that the new president elected will become the new prime minister of japan. but even if this election is called a "non-factional" election,japanese people still have doubts about whether factional politics will make a comeback。

nine candidates are unprecedented

there are as many as nine candidates in this election, which is a historical record.some analysts believe that due to the impact of the "black money politics" scandal, several major factions within the liberal democratic party have disbanded.this election has therefore broken free from the constraints of factions, presenting a complex situation and will be an unprecedented "big fight"。

on the afternoon of september 12, in tokyo, japan, the liberal democratic party presidential candidates who had submitted their election applications appeared on the same stage, attended a press conference and delivered speeches together.

it is rare in the nearly 70-year history of the liberal democratic party for nine people to run at the same time to compete for the party presidency and the position of japanese prime minister.

in january this year, japanese prime minister fumio kishida announced the dissolution of the kōichikai, which he had led for a long time. after that, except for the asō faction, other factions of the liberal democratic party also announced their dissolution. without the constraints of factional organizations, the power within the party was reshuffled, and many politicians saw this election as a great opportunity to give it a try.

former japanese minister of economic security takayuki kobayashi:i decided to participate in this race to make japan a leading country, an independent country that will not be swayed by other countries.

kobayashi takayuki, 49, was the first candidate to officially announce his candidacy.kobayashi got off to a bad start. just a few days later, the media revealed that a political fund of 280,000 yen had not been recorded as required.kobayashi takayuki's office later explained that the person who handled the matter at the time had resigned and could not confirm the specific reason for the omission.

the black money scandal became the fuse of the election

in fact,unregulated political funding is precisely the fuse that triggered the "earthquake" in japanese politics and this presidential election.

on august 14, japanese prime minister fumio kishida suddenly announced that he would no longer seek re-election as president of the liberal democratic party.

japanese prime minister fumio kishida:the most direct and initial step to demonstrate the change of the ldp is my own departure. i will not run in the upcoming ldp presidential election.

it was indeed a helpless move for fumio kishida to suddenly announce that he would not seek re-election.

japanese people:in cases like the political "black money" issue, without someone to take responsibility, it will be difficult to eliminate the public's distrust of the liberal democratic party.

at the end of last year, the exposure of the "black gold politics" scandal embarrassed the liberal democratic party and fumio kishida.

it was revealed that several factions of the liberal democratic party issued sales targets to their members of parliament, requiring them to sell party coupons for political fundraising. this part of the funds is not registered in the faction's income and expenditure report and the member's political fund income and expenditure report, thus becoming unregulated secret funds.

shigeaki koga, a political and economic commentator and former official of japan's ministry of economy, trade and industry:after the "black money" scandal was exposed, the japanese people would think that it is problematic to hand over political decision-making power to these politicians with bad records rather than understanding various government policies.

as the "black money" scandal fermented, the approval rating of the kishida cabinet continued to decline, and calls for kishida and the liberal democratic party to resign grew louder. since 2024, the approval rating of the kishida cabinet has continued to decline, once falling below 20%, while the disapproval rating once rose to 77%.

people do not believe the ldp will make substantive reforms

although the dissolution of factions and kishida's withdrawal from the election brought some changes to this presidential election, many people still do not believe that the liberal democratic party will carry out substantive reforms.

protesters in tokyo:we must always remember the "black money" problem. no matter who the ldp president is, the ldp still has problems.

tokyo broadcasting corporation news commentator koji matsubara:the ldp has used this trick before. for example, when they were criticized for "black money" politics, they would switch from the style of kakuei tanaka to candidates who looked clean. when mori yoshiro was unpopular, they would replace him with junichiro koizumi. this phenomenon of "pseudo-regime alternation" is actually to maintain power. this situation is happening again.although the candidates mentioned their respective new policies and methods of dealing with money scandals, in reality they may just be empty words or even "pretense."

japan's "mainichi shimbun" stated that every time a scandal was exposed in history, there would be remarks about dissolving factions. for example, the liberal democratic party announced the dissolution of factions in 1994, but it was not long before the factions revived in the name of "policy groups" and returned to the political center.

the tokyo shimbun pointed out that many of the nine candidates are hereditary members of parliament.for example, taro kono, yoshimasa hayashi, and the more popular shigeru ishiba and shinjiro koizumi all took over constituencies from their fathers who were once members of parliament.

according to professor emeritus of nihon university iwai nobuobu,several hereditary lawmakers have announced their candidacy, and the presidential election has turned into a showdown between the "second generation of politicians", which is not good news.

candidates "speeding" and "fighting" on the "extreme right road"

many japanese people do not believe that the kishida government's "exit" will prompt the liberal democratic party to make substantive reforms. on the contrary, in the presidential race,in order to stand out in the fierce competition, relevant candidates chose to "race" and "fight" each other on the "extreme right road", making this election a concentrated outbreak of the long-term "rightward trend" in japanese politics and society.

only by facing history can we move towards the future.

in the lively liberal democratic party presidential election,there is a lack of topics on correctly understanding history, and some are so-called "constitutional amendment" topics that attempt to challenge the international order formed after world war ii.。

shinjiro koizumi, former japanese environment minister:on the issue of constitutional amendment, i would like to hold the first post-war (1945) referendum.

among the three "frontrunners" with higher support rates in the presidential election, shinjiro koizumi's political stance tends to be liberal, but in order to cater to the powerful right-wing forces, he often talks about "constitutional amendment."

shinjiro koizumi, former japanese environment minister:i want to challenge this reality even if it means being rejected in a referendum.

constitutional amendment is also advocated by another "frontrunner", shigeru ishiba. the 67-year-old political veteran has lost four elections for the presidency of the liberal democratic party. this is his fifth attempt to challenge for the presidency.

as a former defense minister, shigeru ishiba, who is strongly right-wing hawkish, proposed amending article 9 of the japanese constitution to allow japan to have a formal army.

former ldp secretary-general shigeru ishiba:this presidential election will be my last personal battle. i will fight with all my might and do my utmost to protect japan.

supporting japan to increase its defense budget and enhance the combat capabilities of the self-defense forces is a policy proposition of sanae takaichi, one of the representative figures of japan's right-wing politicians.

japan's minister of economic affairs and security sanae takaichi:i believe that the ultimate mission of the country is to protect people’s property, protect the country’s territory, territorial waters, airspace and resources, and safeguard the country’s sovereignty and dignity.

born in 1961, takaichi sanae has a close relationship with shinzo abe and calls herself the successor of the "abe line." especially in the fields of diplomacy and defense, she has continued a series of right-wing policies during the abe era, not only claiming to "remove chinese buoys in the waters near the diaoyu islands," but also threatening to "transport american nuclear weapons into japan."

japan is becoming more and more "hawkish"

in japan today, both the ruling coalition and some opposition parties are becoming increasingly "hawkish" in terms of security and foreign policies.

looking towards the "post-kishida era", many candidates have also made it clear that they will continue this route.

japan's digital minister taro kono:i want to follow in kishida's footsteps and, with your support, lead our country forward and lead japan.

on september 9, the electronic version of japan's bungeishunju magazine revealed that liberal democratic party presidential candidate shigeru ishiba proposed in an exclusive interview with the magazine: "the japanese self-defense forces should establish a base in the united states."

it should be noted that the japan-us alliance relationship under the restrictions of the japan-us security treaty is an unequal and unbalanced alliance relationship. for a long time, japan basically did not dare to sing a different tune from the united states. now, japan, which is going further and further on the road of "right-leaning", has taken the initiative to propose to seek a more equal bilateral relationship. will this also make the united states feel cold?

as the countdown to the ldp presidential election begins, the policy positions of each candidate are becoming clearer.

shigeaki koga, a political and economic commentator and former official of japan's ministry of economy, trade and industry:no matter who is elected at the moment, none of them is a truly strong candidate. in other words, no candidate has the power to stand out on their own merits.

under this situation, candidates will have to step up their efforts to cater to right-wing forces in order to "win".。

in this regard, professor emeritus of ryukoku university in japan, zhuo nansheng, expressed pessimism:the "doves" within the liberal democratic party have basically disappeared.

internally, although the "factions" have been dissolved in name, "factional politics" still exists. the prevailing criteria for victory or defeat in the ldp presidential election are still interests and relationships, rather than policies and public opinion. this has led to the election being basically a political game within the "nagatacho"; externally, the spread of right-wing thoughts in japanese politics and the rise of militarism have not only made the japanese people feel uneasy and panic, but also intensified the vigilance and concerns of asian neighbors and the international community about the future development direction of japan. in this regard,japanese people of insight have warned that if the new japanese government wants to find the right direction, it must learn from history and regain the trust of its asian neighbors and the international community.

©2024 china media group. all rights reserved. please do not reprint without permission.