New Japan PM Abe pledges muscular diplomacy,reform

TOKYO, Sep 26 (Reuters) Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, pledged today to boost the country's role in global affairs and revive respect for traditional values at home.

Mr Abe, who at 52 became the youngest Japanese leader since World War Two, also said he wanted to improve ties with China -- frayed by predecessor Junichiro Koizumi's visits to a shrine for war dead -- and keep economic reforms on track while addressing voter concerns about widening social disparities.

''I want to pursue an assertive diplomacy,'' Mr Abe told a news conference.

''I want to make Japan a beautiful country which is trusted and respected by the countries of the world and in which children can be proud of being born.'' Relations with China chilled after Koizumi took office in April 2001 and began annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen in Beijing and Seoul as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

''China's development is a big plus for Japan. I want to make efforts to further develop ties,'' said Abe, who has backed Koizumi's shrine visits but has declined to say if he would follow suit.

A soft-spoken, popular lawmaker whose grandfather was also prime minister, Mr Abe reiterated his call for tighter ties with Washington, pledged to work towards rewriting Japan's pacifist constitution and put more discipline in classrooms.

He also promised to nurture growth while pushing ahead with the economic reforms begun by Koizumi, and give precedence to spending cuts in the struggle to rein in Japan's huge public debt, the biggest among advanced countries.

In a symbolic gesture, Abe said he would cut his own salary, the equivalent of 8,200, by 30 per cent and those of his ministers by ten per cent.

Koizumi, a media-savvy maverick known for snappy sound bites and cameo appearances with celebrities, stamped his mark on Japan's political scene after taking power in April 2001 with promises to pry his party loose from the grip of vested interests and lift government's heavy hand from the stalled economy.

In a new cabinet announced earlier in the day, outspoken Foreign Minister Taro Aso, 66, who shares many of Abe's conservative views, kept his portfolio, while former defence minister Fumio Kyuma, 65, was named to the defence post.

Mr Koji Omi, 73, a former economic planning agency chief, was named finance minister, while economics professor Hiroko Ota takes over as economics minister.

Mr Abe was elected by parliament's lower house, winning 339 votes to 115 for Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party. Ozawa, 64, who suffers from heart problems, was hospitalised yesterday for health checks but attended the lower house session.

Abe rewarded lawmakers who campaigned hard in his bid for the premiership, but some said the line-up showed his focus was more on foreign and security affairs than economic matters.

''There are no shining stars in economic portfolios,'' said Jesper Koll, chief economist at Merrill Lynch in Tokyo.

''This is a cabinet where the policy focus is foreign and defence policies, and the management of fiscal and economic affairs is being left on bureaucratic autopilot.'' Foreign Minister Aso keeps his top diplomatic portfolio as Beijing and Tokyo feel their way toward a possible thaw in ties.

''We hope that the new Japanese leader will make efforts to improve China-Japan relations,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference in Beijing.

Japanese and Chinese diplomats have held talks on a possible resumption of two-way summits not held since April 2005 because of Koizumi's pilgrimages to Yasukuni, where Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals are revered along with the nation's war dead.

But gaps remained after the latest round of talks ended in Tokyo today.

Many of the new cabinet ministers share Abe's conservative views, including the need to respect Japan's history and culture.

Asked to elaborate on his slogan of building a ''Beautiful Country, Japan'', Abe said: ''It's a country that values beautiful nature and Japan's culture, history and tradition.'' ''We must reaffirm family values that have been fostered.''

REUTERS