New Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday that Japan's alliance with the United States was central to his nation's diplomacy, while vowing to improve ties with Asian neighbors.
Addressing his inaugural news conference as prime minister, Koizumi also vowed to deflect opposition to his reformist policies aimed at salvaging the troubled Japanese economy.
"The basis of Japanese diplomacy and the main base for our prosperity until today have been friendly Japan-US relations," Koizumi said, a day after being elected by parliament to replace the unpopular Yoshiro Mori.
"We should not forget this point," the new leader said, adding he wanted talks with US President George W. Bush "as early as possible."
Koizumi also said "amicable relations with neighboring nations such as China, South Korea and Russia are very important."
In a nod to other Asian countries' resentment at Tokyo's refusal to apologize for its wartime aggression, Koizumi said it was most important for Japan to "regret World War II."
"In a word, the reason why Japan entered that war was that Japan was isolated from the international community," he said, stressing Japan must not be isolated again.
Asian countries, invaded by Japan's Imperial Army before and during World War II, have expressed concern at the new prime minister's nationalist leanings.
Koizumi has said he plans to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. The shrine commemorates Japan's war dead, including convicted war criminals.
The prime minister vowed not to be swayed from his pledge to carry out drastic reforms of the world's second-biggest economy, although he acknowledged "unexpectedly high tension and heavy pressure.”
He had admitted: "I am facing tremendous resistance but I must not be scared by that. I have to stir up my fighting spirit."
Koizumi insisted at the news conference "there will be no economic recovery without structural reforms.”
The prime minister said his top priority was to swiftly dispose of bad loans held by banks -- the legacy of the "bubble economy" collapse of the early 1990s -- and liberalizing information-technology.
According to Japanese newspapers, Koizumi passed his first test in introducing fresh faces to his cabinet but had yet to present his reform blueprint.
Koizumi's cabinet features an elderly finance minister and Japan's first woman foreign minister, one of a record five women in the government line-up.
The cabinet "should start working on concrete policy programs immediately," the Asahi Shimbun said in an editorial, noting "we can hardly say the unconventional Koizumi team has a clear course to take.”
The Yomiuri Shimbun said Koizumi "has yet to present a complete picture of what he calls structural reform.”
"The budget compilation should demonstrate how the new prime minister's structural reforms will implement his agenda of busting a mechanism built on vested interests, including a review of public spending," it said.
Several newspapers warned Koizumi could stumble over a row with his Liberal Democratic Party's two coalition partners on Japan's pacifist constitution and other sensitive diplomatic issues.
Koizumi said after he became LDP leader on Tuesday that he wanted to revise the constitution to recognize Japan's Self-Defense Forces as a fully fledged military -- TOKYO (AFP)
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