Privatizing Japan's Post Office is a symbol of the progress of the country's reform effort, said Kaoru Yosano, chairman of the Policy Research Council of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
"Privatizing Japan's Post Office is a part of the structural reform that leads to other reforms," said Yosano in the Sunday Debate program on state-run NHK television. "We have the will and determination to pursue further reforms for Japan's future by sacrificing some of our party's support base."
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called a lower house election for Sept. 11 after the upper house rejected legislation he sought to break up and sell Japan Post, the country's biggest savings bank. The LDP on Friday made the postal system's sale the centerpiece of its election manifesto.
Koizumi plans to turn Japan Post into a holding company with four units -- savings, insurance, mail delivery and a nationwide post office network -- in April 2007.
"We need to change the framework in which a quarter of the country's assets are held by the postal service," said Yoshihisa Inoue, policy chief of New Komeito, a partner in the political coalition the LDP leads.
"We'll put that money into the private sector, where market principles can reinvigorate the economy," he said.
Japan Post held a total of ?388 trillion (US$2.5 trillion) in assets in its postal, banking and insurance services as of March 31.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a