Former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, who ranks high as a future prime minister in public opinion polls, outlined his platform for the ruling party's Aug. 29 presidential election, emphasizing an economic growth strategy based on trade liberalization and a security policy centered on the Japan-U.S. alliance.
Maehara, 49, has emerged as a leading contender, and his policies are expected to be at the center of debate with other candidates toward the election.
"I believe our country needs to achieve economic growth and then channel its fruits to rebuilding from the disaster, social security, education and various administrative services," Maehara, 49, told a meeting of his intraparty group on Aug. 23.
Maehara remains a staunch proponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement despite strong resistance from elements within the Democratic Party of Japan to the nation's participation in the free-trade arrangement.
When he was industry minister, Maehara led Japan's delegation in the United States to sell Shinkanen bullet train technology.
He has also pushed exports of Japan's nuclear technology around the world.
Unlike Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, another candidate in the DPJ's leadership race, Maehara is cautious toward raising taxes in the immediate future to finance rebuilding efforts.
"If we raise taxes before we overcome deflation, we will not be able to increase tax revenues because the economy may take a beating," he said. "Overcoming deflation is the priority. We should be careful about tax hikes in the coming few years."
However, he showed some understanding to the policy of the DPJ and the government to increase the consumption tax rate to 10 percent from the current 5 percent in stages by the mid-2010s to deal with the country's ballooning debt problem.
"We have to eventually raise the consumption tax rate," he said.
When Maehara became minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism after the DPJ took power in 2009, he halted construction of the Yanba dam in Gunma Prefecture, saying the party had promised in its campaign to eliminate money-wasting projects.
He also wasted no time pushing through a government plan to rehabilitate debt-ridden Japan Airlines Corp.
But after facing fierce opposition from residents living near the Yanba dam site, Maehara promised to review the pros and cons of the project, taking a step back from the DPJ's campaign pledge. The Yanba dam has been criticized as one of the most wasteful public works projects.
Critics say the Yanba dam issue and his shift to review the DPJ campaign pledges now show that Maehara likes to announce his policies to great fanfare, but he does not have tenacity to carry them through to the end.
In diplomacy and security, Maehara's top priority is strengthening Japan-U.S. ties.
The U.S. government gave Maehara, known as one of the most pro-U.S. politicians within the DPJ, a warm reception by setting up a meeting not only with his U.S. counterpart, Hillary Clinton, but also Vice President Joe Biden when he visited Washington in January.
Even after he stepped down as foreign minister in March over illegal donations from a non-Japanese resident, Maehara did not slow down in pushing his foreign policy. He visited the United States, Okinawa and the disputed Russian-held Northern Territories off Hokkaido.
When he was DPJ president in 2005, Maehara argued that Japan should consider reviewing the pacifist Constitution to allow the country to exercise its right to collective defense.
He also drew up the party's proposal for allowing Japan to participate in U.N.-led collective security activities.
In contrast to his pro-U.S. stance, he has consistently taken a hard line toward China, even when the DPJ was an opposition party.
Maehara infuriated Beijing in autumn last year when he described China's response to an incident near the Senkaku Islands (Diaoyutai in Chinese) as "hysterical." At that time, relations between the two countries sharply deteriorated after Japanese authorities arrested the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that rammed two Japan Coast Guard vessels near the islands in the East China Sea.
Some Foreign Ministry officials expressed concern that Maehara is not prudent enough about what he says and does before an international audience.
As for his approach to Ichiro Ozawa, the former DPJ president who leads the largest intraparty group of about 120 members, Maehara stressed the need to end the division between the pro-Ozawa and anti-Ozawa groups and tighten party unity.
"We must get over the confrontation and stop tripping each other within the party," Maehara told reporters, referring to ongoing battles surrounding the political heavyweight.
Maehara expressed eagerness to meet with Ozawa and other former DPJ presidents to unite the fractured party and better deal with the myriad challenges facing Japan.
But he would not budge on Ozawa's party privileges, which were revoked by Prime Minister Naoto Kan and other senior party officials over a funding scandal.
"DPJ members should work together based on their shared understanding to respect the decision by the current party leadership," Maehara said.
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