September 10, 2020
The campaign for the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is now underway. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide, who is seen as the front runner, just repeats that he will succeed the policies of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, which indicates that he has nothing else to offer the general public.
On September 8 when the LDP presidential campaign officially kicked off, Suga in his speech before the press said that he will give top priority to efforts to end the coronavirus crisis but did not mention any concrete measures to achieve this.
On the other hand, Suga noted that the guiding principle of a future society should be “self-help, mutual-help, and public-help”, showing his pro-neoliberalism stance. Despite the growing criticism across the world against neoliberal policies which have weakened public health systems, Suga expressed his intent to continue with Abe’s policy of streamlining public health centers and hospitals.
Regarding Abe’s economic policy dubbed “Abenomics”, Suga praised it for boosting the stock market and promised to continue with this policy. No mention was made about the fact that Abenomics only helped large corporations and the wealthy to gain profits while increasing economic inequalities.
Asked by the press about what he thinks about a series of PM Abe’s scandals related to the school corporations Moritomo and Kake and the government-hosted cherry blossom-viewing party, Suga merely said, “If anything wrong is found from an objective point of view, it should be addressed.” Suga added that it is not necessary to reinvestigate the Finance Ministry’s falsification of official documents regarding one of the scandals.
Suga was also asked how he views the fact that the LDP headquarters provided as much as 150 million yen to the election campaign of Kawai Anri for a seat in the House of Councilors as Anri and her Dietmember husband Katsuyuki are now being charged with vote-buying. Suga distanced himself from the scandal by saying, “The party headquarters did its job in accordance with relevant rules.” However, given that Suga visited Anri’s constituency in Hiroshima three times to support her campaign, he has a responsibility to explain about his position in regard to the issue.
Concerning Abe’s long-held goal of changing the Constitution, Suga said, “Each political party should present its view and engage in discussion at meetings of the Commissions of the Constitution in both Houses”, suggesting that he will also pursue achieving this goal.
Past related articles:
> JCP Koike: Dietmembers Kawai Katsuyuki and Anri should take responsibility for vote-buying scandal and resign [August 26, 2020]
> Abe still held responsible to explain fully about ‘Moritomo’ scandal []February 22, 2020
> Tamura criticizes Abe for delighting his supporters with invitations to gov’t-hosted cherry blossom-viewing party [November 9, 2019]
> Suspicion of nepotism surrounding private university operated by Abe’s friend [May 21, 2017]
On September 8 when the LDP presidential campaign officially kicked off, Suga in his speech before the press said that he will give top priority to efforts to end the coronavirus crisis but did not mention any concrete measures to achieve this.
On the other hand, Suga noted that the guiding principle of a future society should be “self-help, mutual-help, and public-help”, showing his pro-neoliberalism stance. Despite the growing criticism across the world against neoliberal policies which have weakened public health systems, Suga expressed his intent to continue with Abe’s policy of streamlining public health centers and hospitals.
Regarding Abe’s economic policy dubbed “Abenomics”, Suga praised it for boosting the stock market and promised to continue with this policy. No mention was made about the fact that Abenomics only helped large corporations and the wealthy to gain profits while increasing economic inequalities.
Asked by the press about what he thinks about a series of PM Abe’s scandals related to the school corporations Moritomo and Kake and the government-hosted cherry blossom-viewing party, Suga merely said, “If anything wrong is found from an objective point of view, it should be addressed.” Suga added that it is not necessary to reinvestigate the Finance Ministry’s falsification of official documents regarding one of the scandals.
Suga was also asked how he views the fact that the LDP headquarters provided as much as 150 million yen to the election campaign of Kawai Anri for a seat in the House of Councilors as Anri and her Dietmember husband Katsuyuki are now being charged with vote-buying. Suga distanced himself from the scandal by saying, “The party headquarters did its job in accordance with relevant rules.” However, given that Suga visited Anri’s constituency in Hiroshima three times to support her campaign, he has a responsibility to explain about his position in regard to the issue.
Concerning Abe’s long-held goal of changing the Constitution, Suga said, “Each political party should present its view and engage in discussion at meetings of the Commissions of the Constitution in both Houses”, suggesting that he will also pursue achieving this goal.
Past related articles:
> JCP Koike: Dietmembers Kawai Katsuyuki and Anri should take responsibility for vote-buying scandal and resign [August 26, 2020]
> Abe still held responsible to explain fully about ‘Moritomo’ scandal []February 22, 2020
> Tamura criticizes Abe for delighting his supporters with invitations to gov’t-hosted cherry blossom-viewing party [November 9, 2019]
> Suspicion of nepotism surrounding private university operated by Abe’s friend [May 21, 2017]
