Japan's lower house of parliament approved yesterday the government's nominee for Bank of Japan (BoJ) chief, setting the stage for a political showdown with less than a week left in the current governor's term.
The approval came a day after the opposition-controlled upper house rejected Toshiro Muto, a deputy governor at the central bank. The opposition said Muto's long history as a former bureaucrat at the Ministry of Finance would undermine the bank's independence.
"The next governor should be able to dialogue with the markets and the financial world, have the power to preserve the bank's independence, and have the presence to project Japan's interests on the international stage," Democratic Party lawmaker Masaharu Nakagawa said ahead of the vote. "The government's choices do not satisfy these criteria."
But the ruling Liberal Democrats, who control the more powerful lower house, defended the choice of Muto.
"The governor has the duty to uphold the bank's independence according to bank law. It doesn't matter what that person's background is or where they have worked," said Takumi Nemoto of the ruling party.
The stalemate in the Diet is a major embarrassment to the government, coming at a time when fears are growing about a global slowdown and central banks around the world are trying to work together to calm jittery markets.
Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui will step down on Wednesday. The appointment of his successor needs approval from both houses of parliament.
Muto, 64, was nominated for the top spot last week.
The lower house also approved the government's nominees for the bank's two deputy governor positions. The upper house approved one of the two on Wednesday, former BoJ executive director Masaaki Shirakawa, 58.
Shirakawa, a Kyoto University professor, is likely to step in to serve as interim bank chief if the government and opposition cannot come to an agreement on the appointments.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's popularity ratings have been dropping lately, particularly over the scandal-plagued defense ministry's mishandling of a military ship's crashing with a fishing boat. Many Japanese are eager to see new political leadership.
Public opinion has been mixed over the imbroglio. Newspaper editorials expressed concern over possible delays in the appointment of new governor.
The Nikkei Shimbun called for politicians to act quickly given the global financial turmoil.
"The international financial crisis appears grave, given that the US and European central banks having stepped in with emergency rescue packages," the paper said in an editorial. "Japan has an international duty to select the next governor quickly."
DISPUTED WATERS: The Philippines accused China of building an artificial island on Sabina Shoal, while Beijing said Manila was trying to mislead the global community The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is committed to sustaining a presence in a disputed area of the South China Sea to ensure Beijing does not carry out reclamation activities at Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Reef), its spokesperson said yesterday. The PCG on Saturday said it had deployed a ship to Sabina Shoal, where it accused China of building an artificial island, amid an escalating maritime row, adding two other vessels were in rotational deployment in the area. Since the ship’s deployment in the middle of last month, the PCG said it had discovered piles of dead and crushed coral that had been dumped
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
The most powerful solar storm in more than two decades struck Earth on Friday, triggering spectacular celestial light shows from Tasmania to the UK — and threatening possible disruptions to satellites and power grids as it persists into the weekend. The first of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun — came just after 4pm GMT, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center. It was later upgraded to an “extreme” geomagnetic storm — the first since the “Halloween Storms” of October 2003 caused blackouts in Sweden and damaged
Experts have long warned about the threat posed by artificial intelligence (AI) going rogue, but a new research paper suggests it is already happening. AI systems, designed to be honest, have developed a troubling skill for deception, from tricking human players in online games of world conquest to hiring humans to solve “prove-you’re-not-a-robot” tests, a team of researchers said in the journal Patterns on Friday. While such examples might appear trivial, the underlying issues they expose could soon carry serious real-world consequences, said first author Peter Park, a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology specializing in AI existential safety. “These