Fukuda will find it tough to demonstrate leadership at G-8

By Miya Tanaka

TOYAKO —

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda reiterated his resolve Saturday to demonstrate his leadership on environmental and other issues at the Group of Eight summit in July, as he made his first visit to the main venue in Hokkaido.

But the 71-year-old premier must first address various tasks stemming from the political gridlock in parliament, where the opposition bloc controls one of the two chambers, to clear up uncertainties about his administration, which has seen its support ratings decline in recent weeks.

‘‘I will handle foreign and domestic politics at the same time. The Bank of Japan personnel and issues to do with the summit will also proceed simultaneously in my mind,’’ Fukuda told reporters before heading to Hokkaido Friday, indicating his eagerness to engage in foreign diplomacy at the same time as addressing domestic woes.

Fukuda’s two-day visit to the scenic hot-spring resort town of Toyako is his first there since taking office last September, after his predecessor Shinzo Abe, who selected the Lake Toya location for the summit, abruptly announced his resignation.

After checking the main venue, the Windsor Hotel Toya Resort & Spa, and other related facilities on Saturday, Fukuda said, ‘‘I’m sure the leaders of other countries will be satisfied with this place.’’

The visit may have served as a brief break for Fukuda, who recently failed to prevent the first leadership vacuum at the BOJ in postwar history and to extend a provisionally raised, but decades-old, gasoline tax of about 25 yen per liter beyond its due expiration on March 31, though this has led gasoline prices to start falling at gas stations.

‘‘We have to think how other countries will see us. I think it (the political gridlock) is an issue we should not ignore also from the view of diplomatic power,’’ Fukuda told a press conference on March 31 after failing to extend the gasoline and other road-related tax rates due to resistance by the opposition parties led by the Democratic Party of Japan.

While the row in selecting a BOJ governor is likely to settle soon, a showdown over the tax row is expected to come to a head in late April when the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party will be allowed under constitutional provisions to hold a second vote at the House of Representatives, which they control, to win Diet approval of a bill to reinstate the tax rates.

From the government’s viewpoint, the tax row has not been a mere domestic issue but one related to the environment.

‘‘Is lowering gasoline prices an issue Japan can proudly mention to the leaders of Western countries at the Toyako summit?’’ Fukuda had said earlier, expressing his concern that cheaper gasoline prices will encourage the use of cars and other countries may regard it as a move that goes against global efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

The government and the ruling parties plan to reinstate the special tax levies, although some LDP lawmakers fear a public backlash and such a move may prompt the DPJ to submit a censure motion against the prime minister in the opposition-controlled House of Councillors.

A government source said the prime minister could ‘‘ignore’’ this as it would a nonbinding motion, but if the upper house passed it, it would nonetheless be another blow to the government.

The best scenario for Fukuda would be to ride out the road tax storm and score points by hosting a successful G-8 summit at Lake Toya on July 7-9.

Given that the lower house’s current four-year term runs until September 2009, the ruling parties would seem to favor delaying a general election for as long as possible, fearing they could lose their two-thirds majority.

But with the DPJ turning up the heat on the government, it is not certain that Fukuda will see this scenario realized. DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa has noted the possibility that Fukuda may be forced to dissolve the lower house for an election at an earlier date to resolve the political deadlock.

Calls for Fukuda to be replaced may also emerge from within his own party if his popularity continues to decline.

The approval rating for the Fukuda cabinet has plunged to 26.6%, the lowest since he took office and below the ‘‘danger’’ line of 30% for the first time, according to a Kyodo News opinion poll conducted nationwide on Friday and Saturday.

Meanwhile, demonstrating leadership as the G-8 host on environmental issues will also not be an easy task for Fukuda, with Japan already facing difficulty in attaining its own goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.

Fukuda has said that unless Japan achieves its own goal, it will be difficult to lead negotiations on a new global carbon-capping framework to succeed the Kyoto Protocol after it expires in 2012. Ways to craft an effective post-Kyoto framework will be high on the agenda at the G-8 summit.

Fukuda has proposed calculating potential carbon reductions by industry sectors, such as steelmakers, power companies and transport, which would then be tallied for a quantified national emissions reduction target. But some countries have criticized or expressed reservations about the proposal.

‘‘As the leaders of the industrialized countries will gather at the summit, my biggest task is to coordinate opinions on worldwide issues and make them into a form that can be implemented...I want to do my utmost on this,’’ Fukuda told reporters Saturday.

But people in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido do not seem to be so excited about the high-profile event, only about three months away.

‘‘I think Mr Fukuda has other things to do before placing priority on the summit. Dealing with the gasoline issue may be one thing...but I want him to work more to turn the economy around,’’ Megumi Watanabe, a 35-year-old bus conductor from Sapporo, said as her tour bus stopped by at the town of Toyako.

6 Comments

Wottock_Hunt at 08:43 PM JST - 6th April

Er - because he has none?
eastokyo at 02:41 AM JST - 7th April

The approval rating for the Fukuda cabinet has plunged to 26.6%, the lowest since he took office and below the 'danger' line of 30% for the first time

Tut tut. How are the junior high and high school school kids supposed to bother when their top dog can't even get 30%.
GrouchyGaijin at 09:57 AM JST - 7th April

Sarcastic rewrite of the headline...."Fukuda finds it tough to demonstrate leadership"

Apart from refuelling BushCo.'s warships by ramming a bill through the house, this blithering zombie, characterless drone, diplomatically inept excuse for a PM has done what? N O T H I N G!

The fact that things continue to function, more or less, is proof that we don't N E E D politicians! Fire the lot of them, and pay down the debt!
thepro at 05:00 PM JST - 8th April

He always looks like he has just been pulled out of some old persons home and put in front of a microphone stand when he addresses the press
kenchan at 02:10 AM JST - 9th April

He always looks like he has just been pulled out of some old persons home and put in front of a microphone stand when he addresses the press

spot on! I really feel that Japan has the worst politicans in the developed world....I can't remember 1 good thing about them ever....so depressing that the Japanese public can't be bothered to change it.
illsayit at 09:41 PM JST - 16th April

Cant be bothered to change a system that isnt theirs.....would be correct?

I think Fukuda is the perfect person to be cornered; between the local opinions and the upcoming world opinions. It sure does make it easier to say no to America and the like, when it is not your fault you have to run with peoples' party decision, and is conveniently not your own.....really interesting!