Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday pledged to carry out crucial structural reforms this year as part his drive to reinvigorate the economy, while stressing that the nation remained pacifist even as he pursues his nationalist agenda.
“This year, we will once again make the economy the foremost priority, delivering the warm winds of economic recovery to every corner of the nation,” he said in his new year statement.
“We will decisively execute our growth strategy, carrying out economic [stimulus] measures at an early time,” he said, referring to reforms such as deregulation in the energy and farm sectors.
Since he first took office in December 2012, Abe said he has tackled various issues including revamping the nation’s education and social security systems and diplomatic and security policies.
“All of the reforms I am pursuing are the most drastic reforms since the end of World War II, with very challenging roads ahead,” he said.
With a fresh voter mandate given by a general election victory last month: “This year, I will push ahead with reforms even more boldly and with an even greater sense of speed,” he said.
Abe has embarked on a policy blitz dubbed “Abenomics” to reinvigorate the economy, with a vast government spending and monetary easing program. The third “arrow” in his armory are much-needed structural reforms.
Abe, 60, had billed the Dec. 14 election as a referendum on Abenomics, which has helped exporters by sending the yen sharply lower, and boosted stocks.
However, his failure to implement some of the tough changes economists say are needed — freeing up the labor market and tackling an inefficient agricultural sector — has left Abe open to the charge that he is pursuing style over substance.
His speech also said that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and that Japan — with “deep remorse” over its wartime activities — “has walked the path of a free and democratic nation and of a consistently peace-loving nation.”
His comments come as he seeks warmer ties with old foe China, with which Japan has been engaged in bitter territorial disputes in recent years.
“As we reflect on the past ... I wish to make this a year in which we send out to the world a message about the kind of nation we aim to be and get off to a dynamic start toward building a ‘new Japan,’” he said.
He did not detail what a “new Japan” would look like.
Abe last month pledged to pursue his nationalist agenda, including revising Japan’s post-war US-imposed pacifist constitution and expanding the role of the nation’s Self-Defense Forces.
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