Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has called again for Japan to
join the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade liberalisation talks, pledging
to protect the country's farmers if necessary.
He made the appeal during a
political debate shown live only on Internet television last night.
"We will protect whatever
ought to be protected," he said during the debate, held in the run-up to
the December 16 snap general election.
The political debate, the first
to be conducted in Japan over the Internet, saw Noda trading barbs with nine
other party leaders on their respective policies.
Shinzo Abe, head of the
opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), accused the Noda administration of
not being capable of protecting Japan's interests in the multilateral TPP
negotiations.
"If it means having to
abolish all tariffs, we oppose the TPP talks," said Abe.
Nuclear energy policy also
dominated the proceedings.
The LDP favours restarting
nuclear power stations stopped for maintenance.
But most other parties, including
Noda's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), vow to abandon nuclear energy sooner or
later, as Japanese voters are now against nuclear power, following last year's
nuclear plant disaster at Fukushima, about 200km north of Tokyo.
Conspicuously absent from last
night's event was the Japan Restoration Party - headed jointly by former Tokyo
governor Shintaro Ishihara and Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto - which sees itself
as a viable third political force.
The debate, organised by the popular
video- sharing website Niconico, took place in the wake of frenzied
negotiations among the nation's smaller political parties in an attempt to
forge electoral tie-ups before the start of official campaigning next Tuesday.
PM Noda agreed to take part at
the last minute after his proposal for a nationally televised, one-on-one
debate with the LDP's Abe was rejected by the opposition leader.
Observers said Abe appeared
unwilling to take on Noda, after having been overwhelmed by the tough-talking
premier in a one-on-one debate in the Lower House two weeks ago.
Noda said he had wanted to have
another debate with Abe as he believed the upcoming election offers Japanese
voters the chance to decide, albeit indirectly, which of them was the better
man for prime minister.
Going by recent opinion polls,
the LDP is tipped to beat the DPJ in the election.
If that happens, Abe, a former
premier, could get the job again as the party that wins a majority in the Lower
House gets to choose who becomes premier.
But if no party clinches more
than half the seats, the parties that agree to form a governing coalition have
to decide among themselves who should occupy the prime minister's seat.
A minor controversy erupted a few
days ago over the choice of Niconico as a platform for the political debate
after a senior official of Noda's DPJ alleged that the website allowed postings
by viewers that were usually very one-sided.
The official's remark was an
apparent allusion to rumours that Niconico is a favourite hangout for young
male netizens with a strong right-wing or anti-establishment bent.
According to Niconico, last
night's debate attracted more than 1.2 million viewers at its peak.
Kwan Weng Kin
Business & Investment Opportunities
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