Japan's finance minister formally announced yesterday he would run for prime minister when Junichiro Koizumi's term ends in September, saying he would seek to soothe tense relations with neighboring Asian countries and bolster Japan's economy.
Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki told reporters he would work to revive Japan's regional standing if he becomes premier. He plans to establish a hot line to other Asian leaders as part of those efforts, he said in a news conference announcing his candidacy.
Tanigaki, the first in the country to announce his candidacy, said he wanted to improve relations with China and South Korea soured in part over Koizumi's annual visits to a controversial war shrine.
Tanigaki has indicated that he would not visit the Yasukuni shrine if he were prime minister.
Koizumi's term as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party ends on Sept. 30, and he has said he won't run again. Whoever wins the party election is almost certain to be named prime minister by parliament's LDP-dominated lower house.
Tanigaki is seen as something of a long shot.
Polls indicate Shinzo Abe, the chief Cabinet spokesman, is a strong favorite to replace Koizumi, though he has yet to announce his candidacy.
Foreign Minister Taro Aso is also expected to run.
In contrast with Tanigaki, Abe, who is the government's top spokesman, is known for promoting a more assertive Japan in dealing with China and North Korea.
He supports Koizumi's stance that the prime minister's visits to Yasukuni are a "matter of the heart." Media reports have suggested, though, that Abe will avoid any visits to the shrine this year because he does not want it to become a campaign issue.
Earlier yesterday, Abe told reporters he thought Tanigaki had achieved solid results as finance minister and "has considerable insight."
``It will be good for the party as well for Mr Tanigaki to enter the race, given that many people support his candidacy," Abe said.
Before meeting with Koizumi, Tanigaki told reporters that the country may need to hike its consumption tax to 10 percent by the first half of the next decade if it is to achieve a planned budget surplus by 2011, according to Japan's Kyodo news agency.
Japan has been struggling to raise tax revenue to offset retirement benefits and health care of its rapidly aging population, and lawmakers have long been debating an increase in the consumption tax.
Earlier this month, Japan's Cabinet approved a plan to trim government spending over the next five years to achieve a budget surplus by fiscal 2011.
The plan also acknowledged the need to raise the consumption tax -- which is similar to a sales tax -- from its current level of 5 percent, but stopped short of mentioning the timing and the size of a hike.
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