tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37705282797258731032024-03-17T16:59:23.657-04:00Asia Policy PointAsia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.comBlogger1429125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-73656922377698793912024-03-17T16:49:00.000-04:002024-03-17T16:49:09.044-04:00Monday Asia Events March 19, 2024<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://itif.org/events/2024/03/19/examining-eu-economic-security-strategy/" target="_blank"></a></p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRluWHktIer10sZezf1uKeAp9LA6WOgc7Lwfl-gD_9YAmWyKj3tIyA1HXssbkOnytfjKbsx30Ok0o_vAxiG_LwbkRbkW_JYD4xUFRC2X9JwBnvgaIczBS3OvQsY7awAdIohuPZaJF9vP_CwQsvkOfxTKPdM7ZDHRk1JD5ohW7NoaXZXlqGDieTIGfA462o/s520/monday-blocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="520" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRluWHktIer10sZezf1uKeAp9LA6WOgc7Lwfl-gD_9YAmWyKj3tIyA1HXssbkOnytfjKbsx30Ok0o_vAxiG_LwbkRbkW_JYD4xUFRC2X9JwBnvgaIczBS3OvQsY7awAdIohuPZaJF9vP_CwQsvkOfxTKPdM7ZDHRk1JD5ohW7NoaXZXlqGDieTIGfA462o/w200-h113/monday-blocks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/furthering-us-japan-collaboration-on-communications-security-tickets-863223503737" target="_blank">FURTHERING US-JAPAN COLLABORATION ON COMMUNICATIONS SECURITY. </a>3/18,</b> 9:00-10:00am (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Hudson Institute. Speakers: Yoshikazu Okamoto, Deputy Director-General for International Economic Affairs, Global Strategy Bureau, Japan Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; Mark Cullinane, Director of Bilateral and Regional Affairs, Information and Communications Policy Division, Cyberspace and Digital Policy Bureau, US Department of State; Meredith Potter, Managing Director for Policy (Indo-Pacific and ICT), US International Development Finance Corporation; Hisashi Inoue, Senior Representative, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Washington, DC; Riley Walters, Senior Fellow, Hudson. </span><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /><b><a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/live/foreign-policy-us-election-biden/" target="_blank">RICHARD HAASS ON FOREIGN POLICY IN AN ELECTION YEAR</a>. 3/18,</b> 11:00- Noon (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Foregin Policy. Speaker: Richard Haass, President emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations. <br /></span><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://itif.org/events/2024/03/19/examining-eu-economic-security-strategy/" target="_blank">AN ERA OF ECONOMIC WARFARE: EXAMINING THE EU’S ECONOMIC SECURITY STRATEGY. </a>3/19,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> 11:00am-Noon (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. Speakers: Reinhard Bütikofer, Member of the European Parliament; Mathieu Duchâtel, Resident Senior Fellow and Director of International Studies, Institut Montaigne; Tobias Gehrke, <a href="Adviser for U.S.-China, The International Crisis Group. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__fszj3riT9e4Qe86AocVFA#/registration" target="_blank">Senior Policy Fellow; European Council on Foreign Relations. </a></span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b4cd4264-7fff-769e-523e-977d5f835b8d" style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="Adviser for U.S.-China, The International Crisis Group. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__fszj3riT9e4Qe86AocVFA#/registration" target="_blank">ELECTION 2024: EXPECTATIONS AND SPECULATIONS IN FOREIGN POLICY. </a>3/19,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Noon-1:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: National Committee on American Foreign Policy (NCAFP). Speakers: Heather Ashby, Principal Consultant, Corner Alliance; Carla Anne Robbins, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations on Defense and Security; Ali Wyne, Senior Research and Advocacy </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zotL9-rTQYaoYCYQdUO9iQ " target="_blank">RIDING THE TIGER: VLADIMIR PUTIN’S RUSSIA AND THE USES OF WAR.</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zotL9-rTQYaoYCYQdUO9iQ " target="_blank"> </a>3/19, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Noon-1:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Alexander Hamilton Society. Speaker: author Dr. Leon Aron, senior fellow at the AEI. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">PURCHASE BOOK: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #007c89; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://amzn.to/43usUhj">https://amzn.to/43usUhj</a></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://weai.columbia.edu/events/freedom-undone-assault-liberal-values-and-institutions-hong-kong" target="_blank">FREEDOM UNDONE: THE ASSAULT ON LIBERAL VALUES AND INSTITUTIONS IN HONG KONG.</a> 3/19, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Noon-1:30pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: Weatherhead East Asia Institute, Columbia University. Speaker: Michael Davis, Global Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Research Affiliate, Weatherhead East Asia Institute, Columbia University; Professor of Law and International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University. </span></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.iiss.org/events/2024/03/book-launch-in-washington-dc-the-taming-of-scarcity-and-the-problems-of-plenty-event/" target="_blank">THE TAMING OF SCARCITY AND THE PROBLEMS OF PLENTY: RETHINKING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND AMERICAN GRAND STRATEGY IN A NEW ERA.</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.iiss.org/events/2024/03/book-launch-in-washington-dc-the-taming-of-scarcity-and-the-problems-of-plenty-event/" target="_blank"> </a>3/19,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> 5:00-6:30pm (EDT), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: International Institute for Strategic Studies. Speakers: author Francis J. Gavin, Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and Director, Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; Colin Kahl, Sydney Stein, Jr. Scholar in Residence at The Brookings Institution, Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; Alexandra T. Evans, Policy Researcher, RAND, Professor of Policy Analysis, Pardee RAND Graduate School. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">PURCHASE BOOK: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #007c89; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3Pje9aW">https://amzn.to/3Pje9aW</a></span></span></div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-3692000201776337922024-03-17T16:38:00.002-04:002024-03-17T16:38:25.454-04:00An Insufficient Political Reform Draft<b><i>Protecting Privilege</i><br /><br />By Takuya Nishimura,</b> Senior Fellow, Former Editorial Writer for The Hokkaido Shimbun<br />The views expressed by the author are his own and are not associated with The Hokkaido Shimbun<br />You can find his blog,<a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=d974040091&e=a8cdd94371"> J Update here</a>.<br />March 9, 2024. Special to Asia Policy Point<br /><span id="docs-internal-guid-1375ed84-7fff-9377-eda9-57a55bd724c3"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on March 7 presented its members with a draft plan for political reform. Revisions are proposed to the party’s rules, disciplinary regulations, and governance code, including a ban on traditional factions. Although LDP lawmakers criticized party leaders for loopholes in the draft, they reluctantly approved it.<br /><br />The draft imposes tougher penalties on lawmakers whose staff is arrested or indicted for involvement in illegal activities involving political funds. The draft also provides for the expulsion of any lawmaker whose accounting manager is convicted for a violation of the Political Funds Control Act.<br /><br />The LDP Political Reform Headquarters, headed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, has held discussions over party reforms from the beginning of this year. In an interim report from the headquarters late January, the party proposed banning factions from dealing with political funds and from involvement in the selection of ministers or party board members.<br /><br />The draft of political reform was offered at the March 7 meeting concluding discussions over the past two months. It is expected to be approved in the national convention scheduled for March 17.<br /><br />There are some rules that apply to LDP itself. The draft revises the Party Constitution, the Party Discipline Rules, and the Governance Codes. For example, Chapter 8 of the <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=e1cee4991b&e=a8cdd94371">LDP Constitution</a> establishes the Party Ethics Committee and the Political Ethics Hearing Committee. The March 7 draft proposes that the Political Ethics Hearing Committee can request the Secretary General to convene the Party Ethics Committee, when a party member or a policy group violates the Ethics Charter in the <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=502f0a0d69&e=a8cdd94371">Party Discipline Rules</a>. The Political Ethics Hearing Committee can also recommend that the Secretary General take necessary measures when an activity of policy group needs to be improved.<br /><br />The preamble of the Party Discipline Rules establishes political ethics to secure public confidence in politics and requires each party member not to lose the trust of the people. When an accounting manager is arrested or indicted on a charge of violating the Political Funds Control Act, the draft empowers the party to impose on the lawmaker one of five penalties: suspension of appointment to party officials, recommendation to resign from the Diet or government, deregistration as an official candidate of the party in elections, disqualification as a party member, or a recommendation to leave the party.<br /><br />If an accounting manager for a member is found guilty (after appeals are exhausted) of a violation of the Political Funds Control Act, the party will recommend that the lawmaker leave the party or be expelled. The expulsion clause was highlighted in news reports as the point of revising party rules after the slush fund scandal.<br /><br /><a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=7961bdaaed&e=a8cdd94371">The Governance Code</a> is a relatively new rule, having been introduced in 2022. The Code sets forth the responsibilities of party members and transparency of the party in order to maintain public confidence in the LDP. The March 7 draft adds to the basic principles of the code “strict treatment on the issue of political funds.” Defining “faction” as an organization, which tries to maximize its power and increase its membership, whenever it is backed by the power of money and can influence appointments to posts in the government or party board, the draft prohibits maintenance or establishment of this kind of faction. And it also prohibits policy groups from holding fundraising parties and obliges them to have an external audit.<br /><br /><br />Changes to the Governance Code do not include the elimination of factions, because it allows factions in the form of policy study groups, to which the definition of “faction” is not applied. There were some complaints in LDP that the definition did not extend to all political organizations.<br /><br />The LDP has so far failed to disband factions. The party released a <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=be9949a92f&e=a8cdd94371">Political Reform Guidelines in 1989</a>, when LDP was involved in the Recruit scandal of receiving unlisted stocks. The Guidelines have yet to be implemented. The Guidelines provide for three actions to initiate abolishing a faction: 1) the supreme adviser leaves the faction, 2) the president, vice-president, secretary general, chair of general council, chair of policy research council, chair of Diet members of Upper House, and ministers in cabinet leave the faction, and 3) the officials of the factions do not take action as if they are making party decisions.<br /><br />In early 2000s, Junichiro Koizumi supported the abolition of factions. He left his faction when he became Prime Minister. However, the result of the “Koizumi reform” was that the Koizumi faction, Seiwa-kai, was subsumed by Yoshiro Mori. Under the Koizumi administration, the Mori faction grew to be the biggest faction in the LDP. It was succeeded by Nobutaka Machimura, Hiroyuki Hosoda, and Shizo Abe. Now, it is cynically expected that the factions will be reborn in the LDP, notwithstanding the latest reforms.<br /><br />LDP will limit factions in the party organization by ending their role in the selection of personnel for governmental minister and party board posts. Nothing in the draft, however, excludes the influence of factions, or policy study groups, in the appointment process.<br /><br />The March 7 draft also does not refer to which part of the national laws the LDP plans to amend. Although LDP urges tougher penalties for violations of the Political Funds Control Act, the opposition parties demand the resignation of any lawmaker if his/her accounting manager is conclusively found guilty of violating the statute. Some opposition parties also propose a total prohibition on donations from the business sector or organizations such as trade unions. The LDP has shown no sign of acceding to this demand.<br /><br />The draft did not touch on penalties by the LDP on the lawmakers who were involved in the slush fund scandal. In the discussion in the Deliberative Council on Political Ethics in the House of Representatives, former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda insisted that Kishida punish those lawmakers. Kishida answered that the LDP would decide on sanctions. Young lawmakers in the LDP are frustrated that the leaders of the Abe faction have not taken responsibility for their false control of political funds.<br /><br />The opposition parties argue that the revisions of the LDP’s internal rules are too weak to guarantee transparency and establish ethics in politics. But the LDP has not put its own ideas for amendments of the Political Funds Control Act on the table in the negotiations with the opposition parties. The LDP remains reluctant to have hearings on all 32 lawmakers who have been requested by the opposition parties to appear before the Deliberative Council on Political Ethics in the Upper House. The failure to make much progress undermines the political basis of Kishida administration, which continues to have low approval ratings.</p><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-77828269115218011792024-03-10T19:10:00.006-04:002024-03-10T19:10:53.550-04:00Monday Asia Events March 11, 2024<p><a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/guarantees-for-climate-finance-in-the-world-bank-imf-agenda/" target="_blank"> </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieIzgh2h7AtK4y2V6DF6xcMwjB88i7yh304WYjaktcU0Y6sfHM-JXe2Tlc1QOFx-8MJSwXLSS621aVobWcTVWEBC1DcALjWkzGsmkjSPfypNuq0h8rMVFGbQ-zZpdZSrcDefxpCTQGZ0byfeSdR-yJ05cbO-IE8X7mI6y6piKHjfouvr351G2ujKJgyuXi/s520/monday-blocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="520" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieIzgh2h7AtK4y2V6DF6xcMwjB88i7yh304WYjaktcU0Y6sfHM-JXe2Tlc1QOFx-8MJSwXLSS621aVobWcTVWEBC1DcALjWkzGsmkjSPfypNuq0h8rMVFGbQ-zZpdZSrcDefxpCTQGZ0byfeSdR-yJ05cbO-IE8X7mI6y6piKHjfouvr351G2ujKJgyuXi/w200-h113/monday-blocks.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/guarantees-for-climate-finance-in-the-world-bank-imf-agenda/" target="_blank">GUARANTEES FOR CLIMATE FINANCE IN THE WORLD BANK-IMF AGENDA. </a>3/11, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; white-space-collapse: preserve;">10:00am (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Atlantic Council. Speakers: TBD. </span></p><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-3cc6d987-7fff-023a-e1d9-3ed02a524021"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://events.newamerica.org/howtowinaninformationwarthepro" target="_blank">HOW TO WIN AN INFORMATION WAR: THE PROPAGANDIST WHO OUTWITTED HITLER.</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://events.newamerica.org/howtowinaninformationwarthepro" target="_blank"> </a>3/11, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Noon-1:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: New America. Speaker: author Peter Pomerantsev, Senior Fellow, SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.csis.org/events/conversation-aukus-army-chiefs-land-powers-contribution-aukus-pillar-2" target="_blank">A CONVERSATION WITH THE AUKUS ARMY CHIEFS ON LAND POWER’S CONTRIBUTION TO AUKUS PILLAR 2. </a>3/11,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> 4:00-5:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: General Randy A. George, Chief of Staff of the Army, U.S Army; General Sir Patrick Sanders, Chief of the General Staff, British Army; Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, Chief of Army, Australian Army; Charles Edel, Senior Adviser and Australia Chair; Seth G. Jones, Senior Vice President; Harold Brown, Chair and Director, International Security Program. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.csis.org/events/book-event-war-below-author-ernest-scheyder" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">THE WAR BELOW</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.csis.org/events/book-event-war-below-author-ernest-scheyder" target="_blank"> WITH AUTHOR ERNEST SCHEYDER. </a>3/11,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> 4:00-6:00pm (EDT), HYBRID. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Ernest Scheyder, Senior Correspondent, Reuters; Joseph Majkut, Director, Energy Security and Climate Change Program; Baskaran Gracelin Baskaran, Research Director and Senior Fellow, Energy Security and Climate Change Program. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">PURCHASE BOOK: </span><a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=c76a025daa&e=c02f29e71c" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #007c89; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://amzn.to/49PcUbw</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href=" https://engage.wilsoncenter.org/a/innovation-and-growth-prospects-competitive-japan" target="_blank">*INNOVATION AND GROWTH PROSPECTS FOR A COMPETITIVE JAPAN.</a> 3/11,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> 7:00-8:00pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Wilson Center. Speakers: Izumi Devalier, Managing Director and Head of Japan Economics, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Robert Feldman, Senior Advisor, Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities; Kenji Kushida, Senior Fellow, Asia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.</span></p><div><br /></div></span>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-17103434044253276552024-03-09T14:38:00.002-05:002024-03-09T14:38:32.346-05:00 Unusual Appearance of Prime Minter Kishida before the Ethics Council<b><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>An unsatisfying occurrence</i></span><br /><br /></b><div><b>By Takuya Nishimura</b>, Senior Fellow, Former Editorial Writer for <i>The Hokkaido Shimbu</i>n<br />The views expressed by the author are his own and are not associated with <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />You can find his blog,<a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=26392181fd&e=1fe135a89d"> J Update here</a>.<br />March 2, 2024. Special to Asia Policy Point<br /><br />The first example of an incumbent prime minister’s appearance before the Diet’s Lower House Deliberative Council on Political Ethics (DCPE) occurred last week. The DCPE was established in 1985, two years after former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was found guilty in Tokyo District Court of involvement with the 1976 Lockheed Bribery Scandal that damaged Japanese politics. <br /> <br />On February 29, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sat before DCPE to take questions about the slush fund scandal. He apologized for losing public confidence in politics as the result of the scandal. Despite his hope to restore that confidence, Kishida was not successful in removing all the doubts about the control of political funds in the LDP.<br /><br />Kishida’s original plan was to have the DCPE meet on February 28 and 29 and to have the Lower House send the FY 2024 budget bill to the Upper House by March 1. But the meeting on February 28 was cancelled because some lawmakers from the former Abe faction refused to attend and to take questions from the committee if the meeting was open to the public. If it had been held as a closed meeting, it was obvious that the Kishida administration would have been seen as not serious about restoring public confidence in political ethics.<br /><br />Making the second surprise this year, after the dissolution of his faction in January, Kishida decided on the morning of February 28 to attend the public committee meeting to explain the scandal, hoping to break the deadlock that was delaying the budget. His unusual decision helped the LDP to agree with the opposition parties to hold committee meetings on February 29 and March 1. As part of the deal, the budget bill passed the Lower House in an unusual weekend session on Saturday, March 2.<br /><br />An isolated prime minister is emerging from the process. Even when Kishida orders LDP lawmakers to fulfill their responsibility to explain the scandal, they are reluctant to follow him. Lawmakers in the Abe faction have been frustrated with Kishida’s leadership since he fired all the Abe faction ministers when the scandal unfolded last December. Kishida’s trilateral cooperation with two other faction leaders, Taro Aso and Toshimitsu Motegi, has weakened after Kishida unilaterally announced the dissolution of his own faction.<br /><br />As for the Nikai faction, its former secretary general, Ryota Takeda, tried to protect his boss, Toshihiro Nikai: “While Mr. Nikai is apparently the symbol of our faction, he has nothing to do with any office work or accounting,” said Takeda at the PEC meeting. By contrast, Kishida has no follower defend him as Takeda did for Nikai.<br /><br />Was Kishida successful in the Q&A session of the DCPE on February 29, anyway? The short answer is no. He proposed an amendment to the Political Funds Control Act seeking heavier penalties for lawmakers whose staff engaged in illegal activities. He also said he is considering an official LDP punishment for members who were involved in the slush fund scandal. He promised to have no more private fundraising parties during his term as prime minister. Critically, however, he failed to explain the truth of the scandal.<br /><br />The committee members from opposition parties asked when, by whom, and for what Abe faction’s “kickback system” had been established. The system returned to a member the proceeds of ticket sales for fundraising parties beyond the member’s quota. Kishida said that the return of excess proceeds had begun at least ten years ago. But everyone already knew that because that was revealed in the LDP’s internal survey. “We could not find exactly when and how it had been established,” said Kishida.<br /><br />Another point was why the Abe faction resumed the kickbacks, even after Shinzo Abe, as the president of the faction, decided to abolish that practice in the spring of 2022. Kishida explained that LDP, which had no power to enforce its requests for information, could not find everything. Asked whether he made a request to former factional president and former Premier, Yoshiro Mori, Kishida simply answered that there had been no reference to Mori in the LDP survey.<br /><br />The facts of slush fund scandal were made rather clearer in the Council on March 1 with the attendance of four leaders of the Abe faction: Yasutoshi Nishimura, the former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry; Hirokazu Matsuno, the former Chief Cabinet Secretary; Ryu Shionoya, the former Minister of Education; and Tsuyoshi Takagi, the former chair of the Diet Affairs Committee of the LDP. Nishimura, Matsuno and Takagi were former secretary generals of the Abe faction, and Shionoya chaired regular meetings of the Abe faction after Abe died.<br /><br />On when the kickback system started, Matsuno told of his experience. He learned of the kickback system after he became a lawmaker and joined the Abe faction in 2000. The president of the faction at the time was Jun-ichiro Koizumi, and the prime minister was Mori. Shionoya said that the system was established over 20 years ago to help young lawmakers who could not raise political fund by themselves.<br /><br />How Abe’s decision to abolish the kickback had been reversed was still not clearly explained. Nishimura, who was the secretary general of the Abe faction at the time, recalled that Abe decided in a meeting in April 2022 to end it out of his concern that the obscurity of the fund would invite doubts about the integrity of the LDP. Nishimura then said that some members requested the LDP leaders to resume the kickback system after Abe was shot to death in July.<br /><br />Although Nishimura said that no conclusion was reached during an August 2022 meeting, Shionoya remembered that they talked about keeping the kickback system at least for 2022. Opposition party members quickly noted the contradiction. However, no Abe faction leaders could name who requested the resumption of kickbacks or who decided to continue it. They also denied that they had recognized the illegality of the kickbacks, even after Abe decided to abolish it.<br /><br />Another big question was how the kickbacks had been spent. All four leaders said that they had been used for political purposes. If the kickbacks were sent from the faction to the political organization of each lawmaker as a donation and were used for political purpose, then they would not be taxed. But if a kickback was treated as the private income of the lawmaker, it would be taxed. Matsuno explained that some funds were kept in his office in cash and some to support meetings with lawmakers, but he did not reveal who were at the meetings.<br /><br />According to the discussions in the DCPE the facts in the Abe faction were as follows: someone started the kickback system over 20 years ago and Abe decided to end it in April 2022; Abe was unfortunately assassinated three months later, and someone wanted to be given his surplus funds back; the system was reactivated in 2022 by whom no one knows; no one realized that the kickback was illegal even though it was not recorded on the political funds report; and the funds were used only for political purposes.<br /><br />The opposition parties were not satisfied with this story and demanded further investigation in the Diet. There are some options going forward: asking other leaders to speak in the PEC, inviting the former president of the Abe faction to the Budget Committee hearing, or establishing new special committee for investigation. Whatever the next step, the scandal is still hanging around.</div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-44198141655882095832024-03-03T18:43:00.001-05:002024-03-03T18:43:09.493-05:00 Japan’s Economic Support for Ukraine<b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Promises not actions</span></i></b><div><b><br />By Takuya Nishimura</b>, Senior Fellow, Former Editorial Writer fo<i>r The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />The views expressed by the author are his own and are not associated with <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />You can find his blog,<a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=f05541ca61&e=1fe135a89d"> J Update here</a>.<br />February 25, 2024. Special to Asia Policy Point<br /><br />As seen during his chairmanship of the Group of Seven last year, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been keen to show Japan’s leadership role in supporting Ukraine. Because Japan’s constitution precludes explicit military contributions, Kishida has focused on the economic reconstruction of Ukraine. The <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=4ad8be212a&e=1fe135a89d">February 19 international conference in Tokyo</a> to address reconstruction in Ukraine was an attempt to demonstrate Japan’s capacity for economic contribution. However, the prolonged war makes Japan’s investment in Ukraine difficult, for now.<br /><br />The day after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago, <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=ce16676236&e=1fe135a89d">Kishida accused Russia</a> of a unilateral change of status quo by arms and a breach of international law by violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. “It cannot be tolerated, and I strongly blame it. It also cannot be ignored in terms of security of Japan,” said Kishida. He demanded an immediate retreat by the Russian military in order to abide by international laws.<br /><br />Diplomacy is one of the tools available to a Japanese prime minister to maintain his domestic popularity. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was not willing to join international sanctions against Russia when it annexed Crimea in 2014 because he wanted to maintain a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. If he achieved a breakthrough in negotiations with Russia over the Northern Territory of Japan, it would have been a great legacy of Abe. Kishida, who served in the Abe cabinet as Minister for Foreign Affairs for four years and eight months, is one of those premiers who is firmly interested in diplomacy.<br /><br />As Western countries pledged military support for Ukraine, providing tanks, missiles and fighter jets, Japan’s contribution to Ukraine’s war effort has been limited to non-lethal equipment such as bullet-proof jackets and helmets. One of Japan’s three principles for exporting defense equipment prohibits transporting such equipment to a party involved in a conflict.<br /><br />In <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=290891ea44&e=1fe135a89d">the summit meeting</a> between Kishida and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv last March, both leaders shared the view that the private sector should play an important role in the recovery and reconstruction process. <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=484e7b464d&e=1fe135a89d">Zelenskyy showed strong expectations</a> toward Japanese investments in various ways.<br /><br />After returning to Japan, Kishida convened <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=1864450fbe&e=1fe135a89d">a small meeting</a> with other government officials to discuss public-private cooperation in rebuilding Ukraine. Kishida sought to pave the way for any company willing to participate without taking on the risks of war.<br />Attendees at the meeting discussed the improvement of the economic environment for investment, inclusion of third parties, cooperation with international organizations and the involvement of Japan’s official development assistance (ODA). A former foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, visited Kyiv last September with a business delegation to investigate the opportunity for investment in Ukraine.<br />After those preparations, Kishida administration held the <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=5511e52752&e=1fe135a89d">Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction</a> at Tokyo in on February 19, with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in attendance. Japan pledged economic support for Ukraine in seven categories.<br /><br />One of the seven categories typical of Japan’s foreign assistance is mine sweeping and disposal of debris. With advanced search technology, Japan has experience with mine sweeping in Cambodia and South Sudan as part of ODA or United Nations peace-keeping operations. To rebuild the cities in Ukraine destroyed by Russian attacks, Japan’s skill in sorting and disposing of debris that was sharpened in responding to the East Japan Great Earthquake may bring efficiency to reconstruction efforts.<br /><br />Japan also offered assistance with humanitarian relief, including medical care, electrical power, agriculture, biotechnology, digital industry, infrastructure and prevention corruption. To make investment in Ukraine easier, both counties agreed to tax breaks for companies engage in reconstruction and to expedite the visa process for businesspeople. Japan also decided to open an office of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Kyiv.<br /><br />The greatest hurdle for Japanese private investment in Ukraine is security. For any company that plans to invest in Ukraine’s recovery, guaranteeing the safety of workers will be a critical issue. With no end in sight for the war, a company must take safety costs into account when assessing the feasibility of a reconstruction project. The Japanese government has taken no position on a ceasefire.<br />It is undeniable that Japan has a sense of fatigue in its support of Ukraine, much like other Western countries. The prolonged war has caused commodity prices in food and energy to rise. There is a political argument that the Kishida administration must address domestic inflation before helping Ukraine. Some companies, which still have business relationships with Russia are skeptical about supporting Ukraine, considering Russia’s adverse reaction to their doing so.<br /><br />As a lawmaker elected from Hiroshima, Kishida has shown determination in supporting Ukraine, which remains under a nuclear threat from Russia. “The more success Russia will have in Ukraine, the more conflicts and wars around the world will see in the future,” said Shmyhal in <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=4b0449fcbd&e=1fe135a89d">the press conference</a> in Tokyo. But as long as the war continues, it is unrealistic to expect full-scale investment in Ukraine. As a result, the reconstruction effort will be a long-term consideration for Japanese businesses.</div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-16779737173644685632024-03-03T18:36:00.000-05:002024-03-03T18:36:22.905-05:00Monday Asia Events March 4, 2024<div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><p style="background-color: white; clear: right; color: #222222; float: right; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="520" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN8cbYoMUf-9JW_kA1Xdn4zt5Aay62NEeruKXyW4ZY80VILwsDq_lRHdxh0Vx3X9d55bGDAzN7xvqrGQuHghHeTNfo_FCVRmuaPOq92z1JCTuVHOzSITKXzkdKj1McFnvKEnqZHOI8lHSwk71tG-HEgEx-l0Y1CCWF4qP86qfy9liwSWYdTJHhYpCWQePO/w200-h113/monday-blocks.jpg" width="200" /></p><b><a href="https://www.csis.org/events/two-years-after-return-war-european-soil-charting-path-eu-defense-ambassador-charles-fries" target="_blank">TWO YEARS AFTER THE RETURN OF WAR ON EUROPEAN SOIL: CHARTING THE PATH FOR EU DEFENSE WITH AMBASSADOR CHARLES FRIES, DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL FOR PEACE, SECURITY AND DEFENSE</a>. 3/4</b>, 10:00-11:00am (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: CSIS. Speaker: Ambassador Charles Fries, Deputy Secretary General for Peace, Security, and Defense, European External Action Service.<p></p></div><div><br /></div><b><a href="https://southasia.macmillan.yale.edu/event/pakistans-2024-elections-yet-another-ritual" target="_blank">PAKISTAN’S 2024 ELECTIONS: YET ANOTHER RITUAL? </a>3/4, </b>10:00-11:30am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: South Asian Studies, Yale University. Speakers: Dr. Ijaz Gilani, Author, The Ritual of Election in Pakistan; Dr. Niloufer Siddiqui, Assistant Professor, Albany-State University of New York (SUNY); Sushant Singh, Visiting Fellow & Lecturer, South Asian Studies Council, Yale University. <div><br /><div class="separator"></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vCWZl8uOSBSO3Dj1yg04gg#/registration" target="_blank">THE CHANGING DYNAMICS OF TERRORISM AND ITS IMPACT ON SOCIETY: LAUNCH OF THE GLOBAL TERRORISM INDEX 2024. </a>3/4,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> 11:00am-Noon (EST), HYBRID. Sponsors: Alliance for Peacebuilding; Institute for Economics & Peace. Speakers: TBA. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span><span id="docs-internal-guid-b2aebe62-7fff-1e96-a99b-aceff15ed135"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/events/reactor-costs-and-decarbonization-efforts/" target="_blank">REACTOR COSTS AND DECARBONIZATION EFFORTS. </a>3/4,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> 1:00-2:00pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia. Speakers: Shannon Bragg-Sitton, Director, Integrated Energy and Storage Systems, Idaho National Laboratory; Jacopo Buongiorno, Director, Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Karl Hausker, Senior Fellow, World Resources Institute; Julie Kozeracki, Senior Advisor, U.S. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office. </span></p></span><span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://subscribe.foreignaffairs.com/FAF" target="_blank">INDIA ON THE RISE: HOW HIGH WILL IT GO? 3/4, </a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">2:00pm (EST). VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Foreign Affairs. Speakers: Alyssa Ayres, Dean, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University and Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Laurence S. Rockefeller Visiting Professor, Distinguished Teaching, Princeton University; Ashley Tellis, Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and a Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. </span></p></span><b><a href="https://igp.sipa.columbia.edu/events/womens-initiative-launch-summit-livestream" target="_blank">IGP WOMEN'S INITIATIVE LAUNCH SUMMIT</a>. 3/4,</b> 3:00-6:45pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Institute of Global Politics. Speakers: Stacey Abrams, Ronald W. Walters Endowed Chair for Race and Black Politics, Howard University; Former Georgia House Minority Leader; Voting Rights Activist; IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow; Gina Raimondo, 40th Secretary of Commerce; Sara Jacobs, US Representative from California; Laura Kavanagh, Fire Commissioner, New York City Fire Department; Claudia López, former Colombian Senator and Mayor of Bogotá; Alex Hertel-Fernandez, Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia SIPA; IGP Faculty Advisory Board member; Ai-jen Poo, President, National Domestic Workers Alliance; Executive Director of Caring Across Generations, and Trustee of the Ford Foundation; Reshma Saujani, Founder, Girls Who Code and Moms First Adina Sterling, Katherine W. Phillips Associate Professor of Business, Columbia Business School; Shabana Basij-Rasikh, Cofounder and President of the School of Leadership, Afghanistan (SOLA), IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow; Hon. Henrietta Fore, Former Executive Director of UNICEF; Former USAID Administrator; IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow; David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee; 74th UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow (joining virtually); Melanne Verveer, Executive Director, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security; Former Ambassador-at-Large, Office of Global Women’s Issues, US Department of State; Camille François, Lecturer of International and Public Affairs, Columbia SIPA; IGP Affiliated Faculty; Nina Jankowicz, Former Executive Director, Disinformation Governance Board of the United States; Vice President, Centre for Information Resilience, Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Journalist; Cofounder, CEO, and President of Rappler; IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow; Rachel Vogelstein, Deputy Director and Special Assistant to the President, White House Gender Policy Council; Special Advisor on Gender, White House National Security Council; Sara Casey, Assistant Professor of Population and Family Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; Director, RAISE Initiative, Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood Action Fund; Jennifer Klein, Assistant to the President and Director, White House Gender Policy Council. <span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.historians.org/news-and-advocacy/calendar/event-detail?eventId=6259 " target="_blank">THE PROJECT-STATE AND ITS RIVALS: A NEW HISTORY OF THE TWENTIETH AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES.</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">3/4, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">4:00pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsors: American Historical Association; Wilson Center. Speakers: Charles S. Maier, Leverett Saltonstall Professor of History, Harvard University; Victoria de Grazia, Moore Collegiate Professor of History. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://weai.columbia.edu/events/japans-strategic-cooperation-nato-connectivity-between-ukraine-and-taiwan-crises" target="_blank">JAPAN’S STRATEGIC COOPERATION WITH NATO: CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN UKRAINE AND TAIWAN CRISES.</a> 3/4,</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;"> 4:30-6:00pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: WEAI, Columbia University. Speaker: Tomonori Yoshizaki, Professor, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS) Former Vice President of National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS), Ministry of Defense, Japan.</span></p></span></div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-77591823749905764292024-02-25T21:32:00.000-05:002024-02-25T21:32:30.735-05:00 Japan’s Diet Investigates the LDP’s Slush Fund Scandal<b><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Kisha tries to keep it contained</i></span><br /><br />By Takuya Nishimura,</b> Senior Fellow, Former Editorial Writer for <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><div>The views expressed by the author are his own and are not associated with <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />You can find his blog,<a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=6147a08c0e&e=1fe135a89d"> J Update here</a>.<br />February 18, 2024. Special to Asia Policy Point<br /><br />On February 15, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) released the <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=40bed92306&e=1fe135a89d">result of interviews</a> of its members who were involved in the slush fund scandal. These politicians had received money from their factions from the ticket sales in fundraising parties beyond their quota. The interviews revealed that many faction members were aware of the secret practice, thus inviting skepticism on the ethical principles of the LDP.<br /><br />As a result, the opposition parties have demanded a thorough disclosure the LDP’s fundraising practices. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, hoping to quell discontent, has made up his mind to accept the opposition’s request for lawmakers to take questions at the Diet’s Special Committees on Political Ethics in each Chamber.<br /><br />An investigation team in LDP, headed by the chair of General Council, Hiroshi Moriyama, conducted interviews of 85 members who had accepted funds from their factions or kept them for themselves. Of the 85, 82 were lawmakers, and 3 were branch chiefs planning to run for next general election of House of Representatives. 79 were affiliated with the Abe faction and 6 with the Nikai faction, both of which were dissolved after the scandal was revealed.<br /><br />The investigation team found that 32 members of the 85 interviewed had recognized that the money they received was the return of ticket sales beyond their quota. Eleven members out of the 32 knew that the funds had not been reported to the government –-meaning that they knew the funds were kept secret.<br /><br />Regardless what kind of the fund it was, 53 members out of the 85 had already spent the money, partly or totally, for their political activities. The other 32 kept it in their offices. The activities included payments to their staff and for meetings, or for the purchase of cars, books, souvenirs, and lunchboxes. Is buying books or lunchboxes political activity? The members might have explained that the books were distributed to people outside of their election districts and that lunchboxes were for staff members at lunchtime events. If the items had been distributed in a member’s district, they would be regarded as illegal donations.<br /><br />The total amount of the secret funds of the 85 members interviewed was ¥579 million. The lawmaker who had spent the most was the former Secretary of General, Toshihiro Nikai: ¥35 million. <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=fab954a906&e=1fe135a89d">Nikai’s political organization once explained</a> that it had bought about 28,000 copies of books, worth ¥34 million, for three years between 2020 and 2022. Nikai’s argument that he read this number of books is ridiculous and serves only to increasing public skepticism about his use of the money.<br /><br />While the interviews were made for promoting political reform, Kishida knows well that it was not enough. “Taking every opportunity,” <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=b59983930e&e=1fe135a89d">said Kishida</a>, “the related members have to take responsibility for regaining people’s credibility.” Now that public prosecutors have finished their investigation of the slush fund scandal and have indicted three lawmakers and other accounting managers of factions, it makes sense for the Diet to look into how LDP lawmakers were involved with the secret funds.<br /><br />The opposition parties demanded that the LDP convene the Special Committee on Political Ethics in both Houses, where the lawmakers would explain their roles. Although the LDP was reluctant to accede to that demand, Kishida ordered the LDP leaders to consider holding hearings. He is afraid of public frustration with the strange expenditures of tax money by LDP lawmakers.<br /><br />A Special Committee on Political Ethics was established in each House in 1985, when the Lockheed Scandal shook Japanese politics. A committee meets at the request of any lawmaker who wishes to explain an ethical problem or when one-third of all committee members request a meeting, and a majority of the committeeapproves it. Eight lawmakers have appeared before the committee and answered questions in the past. All eight were members of House of Representatives.<br /><br />A hearing before one of the special committees differs from hearings before other committees in two important respects: the special committees do not take sworn testimony, and the hearings are usually closed to the public. By contrast, the Committee on the Budget of each House sometimes invites witnesses to testify under oath in public hearings. Under the Diet Testimony Act, any untruth is subject to the penalties for perjury.<br /><br />Over time, special committees’ approach has sometimes worked for investigations on important political incidents. In this case, however, even if one of the special committees meets in this Diet session and if a member asks that the hearing be open to the public, it is unlikely that the entirety of the scandals will be disclosed.<br /><br />The opposition parties regard the special committee in the House of Representatives as the first step in scrutinizing the LDP’s scandal. The parties have requested that 51 LDP members appear before the special committee, hoping to question all the members interviewed in the LDP investigation except members of House of Councillors. If the question-and-answer sessions are insufficient, the opposition parties will ask for sworn testimony later on.<br /><br />It is likely that Kishida will treat a meeting of the special committee as a bargaining chip in negotiations over the FY 2024 budget bill. If the bill passes the House of Representatives 30 days prior to the end of March, that is, by March 2 the budget will be in place at the beginning of FY 2024. However, any meetings of the special committee to hear from the 51 LDP members involved in the scandal will take a long period of time, jeopardizing passage of the budget bill.<br /><br />The focus in the LDP so far is on whether the five leaders of Abe faction will appear before the special committee. Four of the five leaders, except Hiroshige Seko, are the members of House of Representatives. While young lawmakers in the Abe faction are frustrated with the leadership of the former faction, the five leaders insist on their innocence, stressing that the secret fund was managed without notice to them. It depends on Kishida’s leadership whether these members will answer the questions about slush funds in the special committee.</div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-79214957904157927722024-02-25T17:56:00.002-05:002024-02-25T17:56:53.636-05:00Monday Asia Events February 26, 2024<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN8cbYoMUf-9JW_kA1Xdn4zt5Aay62NEeruKXyW4ZY80VILwsDq_lRHdxh0Vx3X9d55bGDAzN7xvqrGQuHghHeTNfo_FCVRmuaPOq92z1JCTuVHOzSITKXzkdKj1McFnvKEnqZHOI8lHSwk71tG-HEgEx-l0Y1CCWF4qP86qfy9liwSWYdTJHhYpCWQePO/s520/monday-blocks.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="520" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN8cbYoMUf-9JW_kA1Xdn4zt5Aay62NEeruKXyW4ZY80VILwsDq_lRHdxh0Vx3X9d55bGDAzN7xvqrGQuHghHeTNfo_FCVRmuaPOq92z1JCTuVHOzSITKXzkdKj1McFnvKEnqZHOI8lHSwk71tG-HEgEx-l0Y1CCWF4qP86qfy9liwSWYdTJHhYpCWQePO/w200-h113/monday-blocks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2024/02/26/carnegie-global-dialogue-china-and-europe-event-8240" target="_blank">CARNEGIE GLOBAL DIALOGUE: CHINA AND EUROPE</a>. 2/26,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> 8:00-9:00am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Carnegie. Speakers: Lizza Bomassi, Deputy Director of Carnegie Europe; Yifan Ding, President of China Society for France Studies; Alice Ekman, Senior analyst, European Union Institute for Security Studies. </span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://www.csis.org/events/update-chips-act-implementation" target="_blank">INVESTING IN LEADING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY: AN UPDATE ON CHIPS ACT IMPLEMENTATION</a></b>. <b>2/26</b>, 11:00am-Noon (EST). HYBRID. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Gina M. Raimondo, U.S. Secretary of Commerce; Dr. Charles Wessner, Senior Advisor, CSIS and research professor, Georgetown University. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-world-of-lobbying-and-current-state-of-politics-on-capitol-hill-tickets-825878202937" target="_blank">THE WORLD OF LOBBYING AND CURRENT STATE OF POLITICS ON CAPITOL HILL</a>. 2/26,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> 5:00-6:00pm (EST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Institute of World Politics. Speaker: Brian Johnson, Vice President of disability claims consulting company Veterans Guardian.</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ca1d2527-7fff-809e-0792-e167147190ed" style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b><a href="https://jaswdc.org/events/u-s-japan-alliance-in-the-indo-pacific-unilateral-bilateral-multilateral-capabilities/1708968600/1708977600/" target="_blank">U.S.-JAPAN ALLIANCE IN THE INDO-PACIFIC: UNILATERAL, BILATERAL & MULTILATERAL CAPABILITIES</a>. 2/26</b>, 5:30-8:00pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsors: Japan-America Society of Washington; National War College — National War College Alumni Association; Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA. Speakers: Chip Gregson, Lieutenant General USMC (Ret), Distinguished Senior Fellow, Sasakawa USA; Motosada Matano, Political Minister, Embassy of Japan. </p></span>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-34452570376077635912024-02-18T13:40:00.002-05:002024-02-18T13:40:29.804-05:00Monday Asia Events February 19, 2024<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYc1AFAROS61JEA6u-iaobMwZ8bwWjlkCR3DSE6S2aGxFkzbpcK27y00pcpjxndYGVNiBv03nctP3SMYalG42aTNOda2L4alRvEw8dPIvHaanH7R_leZixJzWhleKRt90mkUiL06gGUt261or2tz0IyAjm6sH-9pl-lUTltEpFuJUMremZ-dKh_Mq7eWDV/s520/monday-blocks.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="520" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYc1AFAROS61JEA6u-iaobMwZ8bwWjlkCR3DSE6S2aGxFkzbpcK27y00pcpjxndYGVNiBv03nctP3SMYalG42aTNOda2L4alRvEw8dPIvHaanH7R_leZixJzWhleKRt90mkUiL06gGUt261or2tz0IyAjm6sH-9pl-lUTltEpFuJUMremZ-dKh_Mq7eWDV/w200-h113/monday-blocks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p><b>President's Day, National Holiday, in the United States</b></p><p><b>US Congress in recess</b></p><p><b><a href="https://www.doha-gshi.com/#/" target="_blank">THE DOHA GLOBAL SOUTH HEALTH POLICY INITIATIVE, “ENHANCING PRIMARY HEALTHCARE ACCESS IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS.”</a> 2/19,</b> 9:00am-Noon (AST), 8:00-11:00am (EST), HYBRID. Sponsors: Middlee East Council on Global Affairs; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Speakers: Chris Elias, President of the Global Development Division, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Deo Nshimirimana, Member of the Africa Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Committee, World Health Organization; Joy Phumaphi, Executive Secretary, African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA). <br /><br /><b><a href="https://www.iseas.edu.sg/mec-events/indonesias-2024-elections-java-and-beyond/" target="_blank">INDONESIA’S 2024 ELECTIONS: JAVA AND BEYOND.</a> 2/19</b> 9:00-10:00pm; <b>2/20,</b> 10:00-11:30am (SST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Yusof Ishak Institute. Speakers: Deasy Simandjuntak is a political scientist and a political anthropologist. She is Associate Fellow at ISEAS and Adjunct Associate Professor at National Chengchi University, Taipei. Antonius Made Tony Supriatma is a Visiting Research Fellow at ISEAS Ian Douglas Wilson is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at ISEAS. </p><p></p>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-62169184825040923382024-02-16T22:34:00.000-05:002024-02-16T22:34:02.182-05:00Kishida Administration Grilled by Opposition Parties<b><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5QZDy8TlF5_SMWPbP4uiiWvfG72xSAGrNUNDwo1iz3b3-salxS2E7Vum2odXoSSoH20c64gOEhnVOAswY_IO71Ur25dneUcUufoVOg3OmMrXn_41W2t3rLn9t6hd_8holQkzev1CDMfP37N01O9ZG0WTjifeNdFvioUeg9dbV5BMixzJru1z9zSL2moF/s284/Yoshimasa_Hayashi_20231222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="284" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5QZDy8TlF5_SMWPbP4uiiWvfG72xSAGrNUNDwo1iz3b3-salxS2E7Vum2odXoSSoH20c64gOEhnVOAswY_IO71Ur25dneUcUufoVOg3OmMrXn_41W2t3rLn9t6hd_8holQkzev1CDMfP37N01O9ZG0WTjifeNdFvioUeg9dbV5BMixzJru1z9zSL2moF/w155-h200/Yoshimasa_Hayashi_20231222.jpg" width="155" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CCS Hayashi</td></tr></tbody></table>And it is inconclusive</span></i></b><div><b><br />By Takuya Nishimura</b>, Senior Fellow, Former Editorial Writer for <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />The views expressed by the author are his own and are not associated with <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />You can find his blog,<a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=62cd597325&e=1fe135a89d"> J Update here</a>.<br />February 10, 2024. Special to Asia Policy Point<br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: medium;">I</span></b>n the Japanese Diet, the Budget Committees of both Houses are where the hottest political issues are discussed between lawmakers and government officials. Last week, starting on February 5, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was grilled by members of the Lower House Budget Committee over his handling of political reform within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and his appointment of cabinet ministers connected to the controversial Unification Church. Kishida’s strategy is to give the opposition parties vague and inconclusive answers.<br /><br />The Budget Committee hearings are the highlight of the Diet session every year and are ordinarily scheduled a week after the Q&A in the plenary session after the Prime Minister’s annual policy speech. While the Q&A in the plenary session is in the form of prepared questions and answers, a Budget Committee hearing is an unscripted debate within the time allocated to every party. The hearing is nominally about the budget bill submitted to the Diet, but the opposition parties ask about everything, because the budget bill deals with everything.<br /><br />In the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives (Lower House), the opposition parties demanded to know the purpose of contributions by the LDP to its leaders. It was<a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=ffbda139ae&e=1fe135a89d"> reported </a>that former Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai had received ¥5 billion from that fund over five years. While LDP is continuing to investigate the failures to disclose cash distributions from each LDP faction to its members, the party’s own fund, which covers “policy activities expenses,” has been untouched by the slush fund scandal because this fund is not subject to disclosure requirements.<br /><br />Kishida asserted a principle of “freedom of political activity” to defend the secrecy of the LDP’s expenses. “Freedom of political activity and people’s right to know should be balanced,” Kishida told the Secretary General for the Constitutional Democratic Party, Katsuya Okada. “Once the fund was disclosed,” Kishida argued, “it reveals business secrets of companies or organizations, and strategic plan of party will be leaked to the rivals in politics, or even to foreign countries.”<br /><br />It is hard to understand why Kishida so strongly opposes disclosures about the LDP fund. The opposition parties are skeptical about the money, supposing that it must be used for things they cannot explain. It is not strange for people to imagine that the money must have ultimately been handed to local supporters, just as in the bribery cases of Katsuyuki Kawai in Hiroshima or Mito Kakizawa in Tokyo.<br /><br />The opposition parties even referred to a possibility of tax evasion. Yuichi Goto (CDP) insisted that the leaders who received funds from the LDP may well have evaded income taxes, if they took unused funds and failed to report them on tax returns. A witness from Ministry of Finance testified that the receipt of surplus cash from the LDP may be a taxable event. Kishida reiterated that he would not explain the use of the fund.<br /><br />Opposition party attacks on Kishida’s leadership have not been limited to reforms in response to the slush fund scandal and have spread to his appointments of ministers of his administration. <i>Asahi Shimbun</i> <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=e4e478e7fa&e=1fe135a89d">reported</a> that the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Masahito Moriyama, had received the support of the Federation for World Peace (FWP), an organization connected to Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU, better known as the Unification Church), in the 2021 election. In October 2023, Moriyama’s ministry sought a court order to disband the FFWPU. <br /><br />According to a series of reports by the <i>Asahi</i>, Moriyama accepted support from FWP for his election campaign, including a telephone bank staffed by FWP members, urging voters to vote. The newspaper also reported that Moriyama had signed a policy accord with FWP before his appointment. The accord included an agreement to support legislation to amend the constitution to enhance security as well as legislation to teach family values and to give children a moral education. He was also asked to caution voters against promoting LGBTQ rights and same sex marriage.<br /><br />Moriyama’s ministry oversees religious corporations. Once entering into a policy accord with the FWP, Moriyama became responsible for implementing these policies even after he became minister. Obviously, the ministry’s neutrality on these policies was compromised.<br /><br />In the hearing before the Lower House Budget Committee, Moriyama vaguely recalled that he had received some support from FWP. The next day, however, he refused to provide clear answers about the nature of his relationship with the FWP, repeating “I have no memory of it.” Kishida rejecting a request to replace Moriyama, said that Moriyama had terminated his relationship with FWP.<br /><br />When the fact of a meeting with a person connected to FFWPU in 2019 was revealed last December Kishida said that he did not know who was in the meeting. The memory of Kishida also has a certain ambiguity.<br /><br />Questions surrounding that meeting involve not only Moriyama but also another minister closer to Kishida. Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=41dd682b86&e=1fe135a89d">admitted to having a meeting </a>with FWP officials before the 2021 election. In his daily press conference, Hayashi said that he was not sure about who was there in the 2019 meeting and what they talked about. The Harvard grad also has memory issues.<br /><br />Watching Kishida’s mounting troubles, some LDP leaders have begun to act. Former Minister of Defense and former LDP Secretary General, Shigeru Ishiba, held a meeting with his colleagues, which he maintains as policy study group. The minister in charge of Economic Security, Sanae Takaichi, gave a lecture to a conservative group.<br /><br />The activities of these quasi-factions in the LDP began only one week after the largest group, the Abe faction, and some other factions announced their dissolution. These are inconvenient facts for Kishida who will base his leadership on ending factions and promoting political reform in the LDP when he seeks reelection as LDP president this fall. More questions will be coming from the Upper House Budget Committee in its hearing with the Prime Minister in March.</div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-14667516090387809112024-02-11T19:16:00.000-05:002024-02-11T19:16:04.990-05:00 Far From Political Normality in Japan<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>Kishida Adrift </i></b></span><div><br /><b>By Takuya Nishimura</b>, Senior Fellow, Former Editorial Writer for <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />The views expressed by the author are his own and are not associated with <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />You can find his blog,<a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=b63da4f1bd&e=1fe135a89d"> J Update here</a>.<br />February 4, 2024. Special to Asia Policy Point<br /><br />Having partly dealt with the slush fund scandal in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hopes to re-focus on substantive policy issues such as disaster relief in the Noto Peninsula and passage of the FY 2024 budget bill in the Diet. However, the slush fund scandal is not over. The opposition parties have proposed various political reforms, but Kishida’s response is weak. His administration still operates far from political normality.<br /><br />The ordinary session of the Diet in 2024 started with an unusual schedule. The customary policy speech by the Prime Minister on the first day of the session was delayed this year because the opposition parties demanded that the Committee of Budget in both Houses discuss political reforms beforehand. The LDP had no choice but to agree to debates, given public interest in political reform as a result of the slush fund scandal.<br /><br />In the debates, the opposition parties proposed such political reforms as a complete prohibition on fundraising parties or the disclosure of funds raised for the parties that were then distributed to lawmakers. Forced into a defensive position, Kishida apologized for inviting a situation in which the LDP has lost public confidence. But he left the direction of political reform to the discussion among the parties, without offering any of his own ideas.<br /><br />If Kishida were not shackled to the scandal, this Diet session should have been a stage for him to fight deflation. In his <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=8650560591&e=1fe135a89d">policy speech</a> after the debates in the committee, Kishida stressed the opportunity to remove deflation and to introduce a phase of new growth with his “new capitalism” of wage hikes and positive investment. “With every effort, I am going to achieve a wage increase beyond price hikes,” said Kishida.<br /><br />Since the Diet session is the first since the Noto Peninsula earthquake on January 1, Kishida pledged ¥1 trillion toward recovery in the stricken area. “I am responsible for the policies from getting the people back to their hometown to revitalization of the region,” Kishida emphasized.<br /><br />The customary speech of a Prime Minister is also customarily followed by a questioning session with representatives from each party. Questions from the opposition parties this time focused on political reform. The head of the Constitutional Democratic Party, Kenta Izumi, <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=0def409abf&e=1fe135a89d">demanded</a> that Kishida request all the LDP members who were involved in the secret funds scandal to resign. The incoming chairwoman of the Japanese Communist Party, Tomoko Tamura, <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=c8bd554cbb&e=1fe135a89d">asked</a> Kishida to prohibit any kind of donation from companies or organizations.<br /><br />Kishida’s answers were ambiguous. Regarding resignations, Kishida said that he would consider making a request in the future after the lawmakers involved in the scandal explain their roles and the LDP fully grasps the facts. It is not clear what action Kishida is going to take. On the donations a from a company or organization, Kishida stressed the freedom of political activity for companies and organizations and said that such donations would not be inappropriate.<br /><br />While Kishida has been facing harsh criticism from the opposition parties in the Diet, the discussion within the LDP of political reforms remains unsettled. The Abe faction <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=a94a68ec50&e=1fe135a89d">announced</a> on January 31 that it had not included ¥676 million in its political fund reports between 2018 and 2022, and declared the dissolution of the faction, ending its 45-year history, in its last regular meeting on February 1.<br /><br />The chairperson of the Abe faction, Ryu Shionoya, apologized to its members, saying that he was feeling like his gut was torn apart. But some young members called for Shionoya’s resignation as a lawmaker in expiation for the faction’s scandal. Some members revealed that they had been instructed by the faction not to report the secret fund. Shionoya refused to resign and said that the responsibility of the leaders would be determined sometime in the future. It is fair to say that the rule of the Abe faction in the LDP for the two decades, starting from the time of Junichiro Koizumi administration, has ended.<br /><br />The outflow of members has not ended Motegi faction. Following the lead of the chair of the LDP Election Strategy Committee, Yuko Obuchi, several lawmakers in both Houses decided to leave the Motegi faction. The remaining members of the Motegi faction have decided to continue its activities as a policy study group without weekly regular meetings. The Kishida faction has decided to close its office and finish its activity as a policy group.<br /><br />The only faction that has not stepped back (if not dissolved) is the Aso faction. But the faction’s leader, Taro Aso, is creating his own gaffes. In a speech in the Fukuoka prefecture last month, Aso decided to describe the appearance and age of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Yoko Kamikawa. “From the viewpoint of us, this aunt is doing good. She is not that beautiful, though,” <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=788ab0a81f&e=1fe135a89d">said Aso</a>.<br /><br />The ensuing criticism has gone beyond Aso to Kamikawa, who did not protest Aso’s remarks. Kishida left a boilerplate comment in the discussion of the Diet that members should refrain from mocking someone’s age or appearance.<br /><br />The LDP has started to interview its members to obtain details on the slush fund scandal. “Even though the factions are dissolved, the responsibility of related people for explaining what happened will remain,” said Kishida in the Diet. Some members of the opposition parties would like to invite LDP lawmakers a hearing on the scandal or to establish a special committee to investigate. Beyond answering questions in the Diet, Kishida seems to have no idea of how to navigate through this political crisis.</div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-2969566707731048432024-02-11T19:11:00.008-05:002024-02-11T19:21:56.429-05:00Monday Asia Events February 12, 2024<b><a href="https://www.wita.org/events/2024-washington-international-trade-conference/ "></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.wita.org/events/2024-washington-international-trade-conference/ "></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPLck5xBrX6NMK9LHnqVa4eAhT898seipqKCY9ZL_QVBru7cikx5SL3yuOKyhksGgytwhd-EaIaVYrWSndDC0hoJt1-Vxf7g3jy8fohLOutvxmrFfnTpj34Z77wW-wV74Vhh3YGd8i7slt6LlQbc5RSGtqrOVLK_VVnDFkxjv7xMhPfiTiWpccLspCwYZn/s520/monday-blocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="520" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPLck5xBrX6NMK9LHnqVa4eAhT898seipqKCY9ZL_QVBru7cikx5SL3yuOKyhksGgytwhd-EaIaVYrWSndDC0hoJt1-Vxf7g3jy8fohLOutvxmrFfnTpj34Z77wW-wV74Vhh3YGd8i7slt6LlQbc5RSGtqrOVLK_VVnDFkxjv7xMhPfiTiWpccLspCwYZn/w200-h113/monday-blocks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>2024 WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL TRADE CONFERENCE. 2/12-13</b>, HYBRID. Sponsor: Washington International Trade Association. Speakers Include: Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE), Chairman of the Trade Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee; Jay Timmons, President & CEO, National Association of Manufacturers; Heather A. Conley, President, German Marshall Fund of the United States; Eric Farnsworth, Head of the Washington Office of the Council of the Americas and the Americas Society; Ambassador Kurt W. Tong, Managing Partner, The Asia Group, LLC; Florizelle Liser, President & CEO, Corporate Council on Africa. <br /><b><br /><a href="https://www.csis.org/events/strengthening-us-rok-japan-trilateral-cooperation">STRENGTHENING U.S.-ROK-JAPAN TRILATERAL COOPERATION. </a>2/12</b>, 9:00am-2:15pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Sung Kim, Former U.S. Special Representative for the DPRK and Former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Senior Advisor, BKL Law Firm and Hyundai Motor Group; Senior Fellow, USC; Sung-han Kim, Former ROK National Security Advisor and Professor, Graduate School of International Studies, Korea University; Masafumi Ishii, Former Ambassador of Japan to Indonesia, Distinguished Visiting Professor, the Faculty of Law, Gakushuin University; Bonny Lin, Director, China Power Project and Senior Fellow, Asian Security, CSIS; Sung Min Cho, Professor, Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies; Rumi Aoyama, Director, Waseda Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies, and Professor, Waseda University; Kevin Wolf, Former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration, Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce; Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; Wonho Yeon, Research Fellow and Head of Economic Security Team, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy; Shihoko Goto, Acting Director, Asia Program and Director for Geoeconomics and Indo-Pacific Enterprise, Wilson Center. <br /><br /><b><a href="https://www.stimson.org/event/understanding-pakistans-post-election-environment/">UNDERSTANDING PAKISTAN’S POST-ELECTION ENVIRONMENT. </a>2/12,</b> 10:00-11:00am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Stimson. Speakers: Farhan Hanif Siddiqi, Associate Professor, School of Politics and International Relations at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad; Niloufer Siddiqui, Assistant Professor of Political Science, State University of NY-Albany; Sarah Khan, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Yale University. <br /><br /><b><a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/belt-and-road-initiative-reshaping-global-order">IS THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE RESHAPING THE GLOBAL ORDER? </a>2/12</b>, 11:00am-Noon (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Wilson Center. Speakers: Simon Curtis, Associate Professor in International Relations, University of Surrey; Ian Klaus, Founding Director, Carnegie California; Former Senior Adviser for Global Cities, US Department of State.<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><div><b><a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/live/gita-gopinath-imf-economy-growth-inflation/" target="_blank">GITA GOPINATH ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.</a> 2/12,</b> 11:00-12:00pm (ET), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Foreign Policy. Speaker: Gita Gopinath, Deputy managing director, International Monetary Fund. </div><div><br /></div></div></div><b><a href=" https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/craig-allen-chinas-economic-development-model-implications-for-us-japan-relations/">CHINA’S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MODEL: IMPLICATIONS FOR US-JAPAN RELATIONS.</a> 2/12,</b> Noon-1:00pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Harvard University. Speaker: Craig Allen, President, US-China Business Council.<br /><br /><b><a href="https://www.brookings.edu/events/is-the-us-china-relationship-americas-most-consequential-bilateral-relationship/">IS THE US-CHINA RELATIONSHIP AMERICA’S MOST CONSEQUENTIAL BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP?</a> 2/12</b>, 2:30-3:30pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Brookings Institute. Speakers: Susan A. Thornton, Senior Fellow, Paul Tsai China Center, Yale Law School, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, John L. Thornton China Center; Elizabeth Economy, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Graham T. Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard University; Josh M. Cartin, Adjunct Professor, Walsh School of Foreign Service - Georgetown University. <br /><br /><b><a href="https://jsis.washington.edu/taiwan/2024/01/11/korea-and-taiwan-in-the-us-china-hi-tech-rivalry-special-lecture-with-dr-keun-lee/">KOREA AND TAIWAN IN THE US-CHINA HI-TECH RIVALRY: SPECIAL LECTURE WITH DR. KEUN LEE.</a> 2/12</b>, 3:30-5:00pm (PST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: University of Washington. Speaker: Keun Lee, Distinguished Professor, Seoul National University (Econ). <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 15pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="display: inline-block; position: relative; width: 100px;"></span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-5b12af47-7fff-907d-f1d4-af9d5c1c8839"></span></div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-31152550130324155282024-02-04T13:34:00.010-05:002024-02-04T17:54:04.228-05:00Monday Asia Events February 5, 2024<p><a href="https://www.cgdev.org/event/fireside-chat-world-bank-president-ajay-banga" target="_blank"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj137yF1px-R5F2_njjuEWBp4r_a1wv23tLgx9kh3bGClXl5JXPR-gO45MWVWoO0IzjkGfZhEKaJ0r28aGWdjr88KRJ1zO-oVbX8xkIaXaeZt_0T0shChLdpcMyDfHbUQimMbI8S1nXVmS2rH_l4NzGRMhl0pkWO1g_MEMzLfRjHTuk3Ajf5nfNMk1GJrPh/s520/monday-blocks.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="520" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj137yF1px-R5F2_njjuEWBp4r_a1wv23tLgx9kh3bGClXl5JXPR-gO45MWVWoO0IzjkGfZhEKaJ0r28aGWdjr88KRJ1zO-oVbX8xkIaXaeZt_0T0shChLdpcMyDfHbUQimMbI8S1nXVmS2rH_l4NzGRMhl0pkWO1g_MEMzLfRjHTuk3Ajf5nfNMk1GJrPh/w200-h113/monday-blocks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div> <span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.cgdev.org/event/fireside-chat-world-bank-president-ajay-banga" target="_blank">A FIRESIDE CHAT WITH WORLD BANK PRESIDENT AJAY BANGA</a>. 2/5, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">9:00-10:00amsm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Center for Global Development. Speakers: Ajay Banga, President, World Bank Group; Masood Ahmed, President, Center for Global Development. </span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-62f9da60-7fff-f9b6-61a2-885c4bdd9b9a"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.hudson.org/events/how-deter-china-economically-representative-frank-lucas" target="_blank">HOW TO DETER CHINA ECONOMICALLY WITH REPRESENTATIVE FRANK LUCAS</a>. 2/5,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> 10:00-11:00am (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Hudson Institute. Speakers: Frank Lucas, United States Representative, Third District of Oklahoma; Thomas J. Duesterberg, Senior Fellow. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b><a href="https://www.csis.org/events/emerging-policy-issues-foundational-semiconductors" target="_blank">EMERGING POLICY ISSUES FOR FOUNDATIONAL SEMICONDUCTORS</a>. 2/5</b>, 10:00–11:00am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Dr. Chris Miller, Associate Professor, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; Dr. Andreas Schumacher, Executive Vice President, Infineon Technologies, AG. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b><a href="https://www.mei.edu/events/free-fair-conclusive-what-expect-pakistans-election-and-day-after" target="_blank">ELECTIONS: FREE, FAIR, CONCLUSIVE? WHAT TO EXPECT WITH PAKISTAN'S ELECTION - AND THE DAY AFTER.</a> 2/5</b>, 10:30-11:45am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Middle East Institute. Speakers: Madiha Afzal, Fellow of Foreign Policy, Brookings; Michael Kugelman, Director, South Asia Institute, Wilson Center; Syed Mohammad Ali, Non-Resident Scholar, Afghanistan and Pakistan Program, Middle East Institute; Tamanna Salikuddin, Director, South Asia Program, U.S. Institute of Peace. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b><a href="https://www.heritage.org/asia/event/agenda-regaining-americas-maritime-security-and-competitiveness" target="_blank">AN AGENDA FOR REGAINING AMERICA’S MARITIME SECURITY AND COMPETITIVENESS</a>. 2/5, </b></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">2:00-3:00pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Heritage Foundation. Speakers: The Honorable Michael Waltz (R-FL), United States Representative and Colonel (Ret.) U.S. Army; Brent Sadler, Senior Research Fellow, Allison Center for National Security. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/2024-charles-neuhauser-memorial-lecture-featuring-ambassador-robert-lighthizer-china-and-the-trade-trap/" target="_blank">2024 CHARLES NEUHAUSER MEMORIAL LECTURE FEATURING AMBASSADOR ROBERT LIGHTHIZER — CHINA AND THE TRADE TRAP</a>. 2/5,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> 4:30-6:00pm (EST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Harvard University. Speaker: Amb. Robert Lighthizer, 18th United States Trade Representative (2017-2021). </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-resilience-what-japan-can-teach-the-world-about-disaster-tickets-808226425997 " target="_blank">BEYOND RESILIENCE: WHAT JAPAN CAN TEACH THE WORLD ABOUT DISASTER</a>. 2/5,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> 5:00-6:30pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsors: East West Center; Japan Foundation; Abe Global; Social Science Council. Speakers: Daniel Aldrich, Professor of Politics and Public Policy, Northeastern University; Jordan Sand, Professor of Japanese History, Georgetown University; Anuradha Mukherji, Associate Professor of Community and Regional Planning, East Carolina University; Heejun Chang, Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography, Portland State University; Mary Alice Haddad (chair), John E. Andrus Professor of Government, Director of the Office of the Faculty Career Development, Professor of East Asian and Environmental Studies, Wesleyan University. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeKKMk6r9SrzyR_raq7jKVom6YA7_VsX1dLovpOVKnWksfxQw/viewform?pli=1" target="_blank"><i>MAGNITSKIED</i>: THE GROWING USE OF HUMAN RIGHTS SANCTIONS IN A DIVIDED WORLD.</a> 2/5</b>, 7:30pm (EST). HYBRID. Sponsor: Columbia University Human Rights Seminar. Speaker: Louis Charbonneau, UN Director Human Rights Watch. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.ycaps.org/gtkj-allied-occupation-of-japan" style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; white-space-collapse: preserve;" target="_blank">SPACES OF DEMOCRATIZATION: ENVISIONING THE ALLIED OCCUPATION OF JAPAN</a><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>. 2/5,</b></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> 8:00pm (EST) <b>2/6</b>, 10:00am (JST), VIRTUAL. Sponsors: Yokosuka Council on Asia Pacific Studies; Japan Foundation. Speaker: Professor Annika A. Culver, Ph.D., Professor of East Asian History, Florida State University (FSU), Scholar, US-Japan Network for the Future. </span></p></span>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-89579722667439315832024-02-02T11:26:00.001-05:002024-02-02T11:26:40.707-05:00Will the LDP reform?<b><i>Kishida’s Halfway Political Reform</i></b><br /><br /><b>By Takuya Nishimura</b>, Senior Fellow, Former Editorial Writer for <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />The views expressed by the author are his own and are not associated with <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />You can find his blog,<a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=52fb842b8e&e=1fe135a89d"> J Update here</a>.<br />January 27, 2024. Special to Asia Policy Point<br /><br />On January 22, the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) new Political Reform Headquarters released its “<a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=950ec02ef9&e=1fe135a89d">interim report</a>” in response to the slush fund scandals of several LDP factions. Although the report proposes banning factions from hosting fundraising parties and eliminating the role of factions in money-raising and in appointments to cabinet posts and the party board, it does not ban factions. Missing from the report are the details of the scandal – an absence likely to exacerbate rather than quell public frustration with the LDP. Since the LDP has no specific plan to issue a final report, discussion of the scandal and the appropriate response to it has carried over to the Diet.<br /><br />The <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=c31272687e&e=1fe135a89d">Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office</a> investigated the scandals in which three LDP factions kickbacked to members the proceeds of ticket sales for fundraising parties that exceeded the quotas assigned to the members. The factions did not include the payments on their required political funds reports. The office has now wrapped up its investigation with the indictment of three lawmakers, all of whom are affiliated with the Abe faction, and seven accounting managers.<br /><br />The prosecutor’s office did not, however, indict seven leaders of the Abe faction who were under investigation. While they were suspected of receiving kickbacks, the leaders explained that they did not know about the money since payments were the responsibility of the faction’s accounting managers. Although criminal prosecutions will not occur, it still is possible that the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution will discuss the propriety of the non-indictments. Some in the LDP expect further penalties for the leaders, perhaps including expulsion from the party.<br /><br />The interim report begins with an apology to the public for the kickback scandal. “The people doubt LDP with alleged inappropriate accounting over fundraising parties by specific factions,” says the report, emphasizing that the scandal has been about some specific and not all factions in the LDP.<br /><br />The interim report calls for enhanced transparency of fundraising so as to prevent future mismanagement. The report also recommends the elimination of fundraising parties by factions and third-party audits for every faction. These recommendations assume that factions will continue to exist; the report does not speak to their possible elimination.<br /><br />The report has loopholes. Although it would bar faction-led fundraising parties, it does not discuss such parties by lawmakers directly, which could present the same opportunity for kickback scandals. At one time, an LDP faction was group of lawmakers united by an influential leader who was powerful enough to distribute political contributions to faction members. Fundraising parties by individual lawmakers could bring back the old politics of control by bosses.<br /><br />Also absent from the interim report is any discussion of “political activities spending,” which are distributions by the party to its leaders; how these funds are spent is not disclosed to the public. According to <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=27a81d01c2&e=1fe135a89d">a report</a> of <i>Asahi Shimbun,</i> the LDP distributed fund totaling ¥1.4 billion to fifteen leaders in FY 2022. Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi received the lion’s share, ¥971 million. As long as factions exist, these distributions will continue, even if the LDP tries to stem the flow.<br /><br />The report does urge that the factions return to their traditional role as genuine study groups. The report defines factions as “entities for studying policy and complementing party with political education.” But the LDP already has study groups. The LDP Policy Research Council has <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=aab8605ab2&e=1fe135a89d">fourteen divisions</a>, which hold meetings every morning for the study of policies with specialists or scholars. The LDP must explain the difference between these newer divisions and traditional factions as genuine policy groups.<br /><br />Also requiring explanation is the recommendation to end the factions’ role in appointments to posts in the government and the party board. If this role is to end, the LDP needs to clarify how the party will elect the president. Article 10 of <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=d8d66721c1&e=1fe135a89d">Rules for election of President</a> requires at least 20 party Diet members to nominate a presidential candidate. Until now, nominations have rested on a balance of factions. With the loss of this role for the factions, the twenty members may constitute an informal, quasi-faction.<br /><br />Disappointed with the report’s confusing approach to factions, some lawmakers have announced that they will leave their factions. The chair of Election Strategy Committee, Yuko Obuchi, will leave Motegi faction. Former Minister of Defense, Takeshi Iwaya, will resign from the Aso faction.<br /><br />There have been other arguments about political funds, which are not addressed in the interim report. Some have argued that the threshold for reporting the names of buyers and the amount of ticket sales for a fundraising party should be lowered from ¥200 thousand to ¥50 thousand. This approach would be effective in regulating political funds because identification of the ticket buyers may deter local supporters.<div><br />Requiring the resignation of any lawmaker whose staff was arrested or indicted mismanagement or failure to report political funds should be another option. The Public Office Election Law already strips a candidate of an election victory if a staff member committed illegal activities such as bribery. This provision could be expanded to cover the mismanagement of political funds.<br /><br />LDP’s coalition partner, Komeito, and the opposition parties support the recommended reforms on political funds. The reforms are matters for the Diet since amendments to laws will be necessary. The ordinary session of the Diet was convened on January 26. During a discussion in the Diet on January 29, Kishida appeared willing to consider a “guilt-by-association” system that hold lawmakers responsible for political funds control law breaches by their staff. Nevertheless, he was reluctant to disclose political activities spending. Kishida will face hard questions during in the rest of the current Diet session that ends June 23rd.<br /><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td style="margin: 0px; padding-top: 9px;" valign="top"></td></tr></tbody></table></div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-63273109508900591032024-01-28T14:17:00.024-05:002024-01-28T20:20:43.426-05:00Monday Asia Events January 29, 2024<p><a href="https://us-japan.wcfia.harvard.edu/katada-1-29-2024" target="_blank"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpqu0D0eBBeF6vb2x4d0hMwVYIXcN00CAP5FNAI71AxTpSfZ-BWynnkEnTo8Ta3BtvOzxGDsTxofahUcb-Z8v5esqCfoa59O0i0VtcttcJ_NH5ePVUtCqUowO5LqbiJW2ysOQgeSNxLsU1EwMjSKmAVvtb-nbm-_v_hup_VHEAqKCbOyTtNjecN4M6fIqt/s520/monday-blocks.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="520" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpqu0D0eBBeF6vb2x4d0hMwVYIXcN00CAP5FNAI71AxTpSfZ-BWynnkEnTo8Ta3BtvOzxGDsTxofahUcb-Z8v5esqCfoa59O0i0VtcttcJ_NH5ePVUtCqUowO5LqbiJW2ysOQgeSNxLsU1EwMjSKmAVvtb-nbm-_v_hup_VHEAqKCbOyTtNjecN4M6fIqt/w200-h113/monday-blocks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /> <span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://us-japan.wcfia.harvard.edu/katada-1-29-2024" target="_blank">THE INDO-PACIFIC AS JAPAN’S 21ST CENTURY GRAND STRATEGY.</a> 1/29, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Noon -1:00pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Harvard University. Speaker: Saori Katada, Professor of International Relations; Director, Center for International Studies, University of Southern California. </span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-f8c7315a-7fff-5085-b30d-43c77c186232"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.aei.org/events/us-international-trade-policy-and-the-agricultural-sector-in-2024-and-beyond/" target="_blank">US INTERNATIONAL TRADE POLICY AND THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN 2024 AND BEYOND.</a> 1/29,</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> 1:00-3:00pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: American Enterprise Institute. Speakers: Sharon Bomer-Lauritsen, Founder, AgTrade Strategies; Gregg Doud, President, National Milk Producers Federation; Joseph W. Glauber, Nonresident Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; Vincent H. Smith, Director of Agricultural Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute; Craig Thorn, Partner, DTB Associates; Darci Vetter, Head of Global Public Policy, PepsiCo, Former Chief Agricultural Negotiator, Office of the US Trade Representative. </span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: times;"><b><br /><a href="https://www.hudson.org/events/conversation-rep-darrell-issa-us-south-asia-relations">A CONVERSATION WITH REP. DARRELL ISSA ON US–SOUTH ASIA RELATIONS</a>. 1/29</b>, 2:00-3:00pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Hudson Institute. Speakers: Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-CA), Aparna Pande, Research Fellow, Hudson Institute (India and South Asia).</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.mofa.go.jp/ecm/oecd/pagewe_000001_00019.html" target="_blank">GLOBAL BUSINESS SEMINAR: JAPAN'S ATTRACTIVE INVESTMENT ENVIRONMENT IN A CHANGING INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT.</a> 1/29, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">2:00-4:50pm (JST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsors: Cabinet Office (CAO), Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO). Speakers: Mr. Marcus Schuermann, Chief Executive Officer / Delegate of German Industry and Commerce in Japan; Mr. Masanori YOSHIDA, Executive Officer, Global Chief, Japan Exchange Group, Inc.; Mr. Mitsuru MYOCHIN, Deputy Director-General for Economic and Fiscal Management, Director General of the Office of Foreign Direct Investment Promotion; Mr. Kazuya NAKAJO, Executive Vice President, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO); Mr. Satoshi TAKAMATSU, Representative Director, President and CEO, ARCALIS, Inc.; Mr. Mamoru NAKANO, Japan Country Manager, Tenstorrent Japan Inc.; Mr. Luc PEJO, CEO, Ciel Terre Japan Inc.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/bystander-society-conformity-and-complicity-nazi-germany-and-holocaust " target="_blank"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/bystander-society-conformity-and-complicity-nazi-germany-and-holocaust " style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="996" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieeYxlPbP6ynGS5tsho6LmkGPqKQDcHDudHwHBla44L-3auqmb-zucBf_Cj7B5clAAA3R7-NdvPO-1cxjQwZ-nPey7v8zvD_r3wrtVeOZGIOC5sdz5OVusdrRFGAj6jLaz0YCVkKvv1KKl-4Vqzs3dozgQd78fAGTDdPZiaqT400JGKrLclWGUeN9aWG7q/s320/joe%20nye%20book.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/4bc7MQ9" target="_blank">PURCHASE BOO</a>K<br /><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span><b style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; white-space-collapse: collapse;"></b></a><b style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><a href="https://www.law.georgetown.edu/event/international-economic-law-policy-colloquium-underground-empire-how-america-weaponized-the-world-economy/" target="_blank">*INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW & POLICY COLLOQUIUM – “UNDERGROUND EMPIRE: HOW AMERICA WEAPONIZED THE WORLD ECONOMY”.</a> 1/29, </b><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; white-space-collapse: collapse;">3:30-5:30pm (EST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Georgetown University. Speaker: Abraham Newman, Professor, Director of the Mortara Center for International Studies, Georgetown University. </span>BYSTANDER SOCIETY: CONFORMITY AND COMPLICITY IN NAZI GERMANY AND THE HOLOCAUST. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;">1/29, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">4:00-5:30pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Wilson Center. Speaker: author Mary Fubrook, Professor of German History, University College London. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span></div><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-1e71b3c6-7fff-a95e-7807-e1055b2d7978"><a href="https://aspeninstitute.wufoo.com/forms/m1e2duq20e236vm/ " target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;">BOOK TALK WITH JOSEPH S. NYE JR - </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;">A LIFE IN THE AMERICAN CENTURY</span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://aspeninstitute.wufoo.com/forms/m1e2duq20e236vm/ " target="_blank">.</a> 1/29,</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> 5:00-6:30pm (ET), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: Aspen Strategy Group. Speaker: Author Joseph S. Nye Jr, Founder and Co-Chair, Aspen Strategy Group. </span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-bd0c1eb1-7fff-2561-3042-c6ac879ddf2d"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://usali.org/events/challenging-china-the-philippine-experience-in-the-south-china-sea" target="_blank">CHALLENGING CHINA: THE PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA.</a> 1/29</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">, 7:00-8:00pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: U.S- Asia Law Institute. Speaker: Jay L Batongbacal, Professor, University of the Philippines College of Law, Director, Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea of the U.P. Law Center.</span></span></span></span></p>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-88436186890446346032024-01-26T19:50:00.007-05:002024-01-27T12:55:37.619-05:00Kishida's Survival Gamble<p></p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td style="padding-top: 9px;" valign="top"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_6504897446085052860mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td class="m_6504897446085052860mcnTextContent" style="line-height: 15px; padding: 0px 18px 9px; word-break: break-word;" valign="top"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivATOeYmy3NFrUnzSHk6EoXkiuO81iG2CECLGL3zKVD7EhKWmNN61szm-i0W8b82EXLDSKXZ6lkYifZxXj5ExLyj3aqOoR0oVwS6d8PEY8Lx01Oc0MtwScQZTwupIgK_1i5hQLFIi6VQpRlxiCQJHoJMkT007ML1vKcPYr1MM0Wryh_dbGxlIQutaSccET/s1169/Taro%20Aso.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1169" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivATOeYmy3NFrUnzSHk6EoXkiuO81iG2CECLGL3zKVD7EhKWmNN61szm-i0W8b82EXLDSKXZ6lkYifZxXj5ExLyj3aqOoR0oVwS6d8PEY8Lx01Oc0MtwScQZTwupIgK_1i5hQLFIi6VQpRlxiCQJHoJMkT007ML1vKcPYr1MM0Wryh_dbGxlIQutaSccET/w137-h200/Taro%20Aso.jpeg" width="137" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taro Aso</td></tr></tbody></table>Will his administration survival?</span></b><br /><b><br />By Takuya Nishimura</b>, Senior Fellow, Former Editorial Writer for <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />The views expressed by the author are his own and are not associated with <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />You can find his blog,<a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=9c0872244d&e=1fe135a89d"> J Update here</a>.<br />January 21, 2024. Special to Asia Policy Point<br /><br />The Special Investigation Division of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has mostly wrapped up its investigation into the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) slush fund scandal. They indicted some Abe faction lawmakers and the accounting managers of the Abe, Nikai, and Kishida factions.<br /><br />To restore public confidence in politics, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced the dissolution of his faction. Although the Abe and Nikai faction also agreed to be dissolved, the remaining three LDP factions--Aso, Motegi and Moriyama—have not. Kishida’s abrupt and unilateral decision threatens to bring about a sharp rift in the LDP.<br /><br />The <i>Asahi Shimbun</i> has reported that the public prosecutors indicted two lawmakers in the Abe faction, Yasutada Ono and Yaichi Tanigawa, on charges of violating the Political Funds Control Act. The two are specifically alleged to have failed to report funds from the faction that were derived from the sales of tickets for fundraising parties. On January 7, prosecutors had already arrested a lawmaker, Yoshitaka Ikeda.<br /><br />Ono was indicted in house and has denied any involvement in illegal activities. Tanigawa received a summary indictment and admitted the charge against him. Both men have left the LDP and Tanigawa has submitted his resignation from the Lower House.<br /><br />The accounting managers of three factions allegedly failed to report the funds relating to their faction’s fundraising parties, including the return of some proceeds of the fundraisers to the lawmakers. Amounts not reported include ¥1.3 billion for the Abe faction, ¥380 million for the Nikai faction and ¥30 million for the Kishida faction.<br /><br />Strangely, leading lawmakers in the Abe faction, including the “Five Guys,” were not indicted. Prosecutors interviewed them about the management of their money, but apparently did not find sufficient evidence of their participation in reporting violations. The leaders explained that the head of the faction, either former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe or former Speaker of House of Representatives, Hiroyuki Hosoda controlled the unreported funds. Coincidentally, both men are deceased.<br /><br />Abe ended the “kickback” practice, but his successors in the LDP reversed the decision after he died in July 2022. The leaders of the Abe faction and the accounting manager said in their interviews with the prosecutors that the accounting manager decides whether the funds would be reported or not. Prosecutors failed to ask who was responsible for the decision to resume kickbacks.<br /><br />Another question: What is the difference between the lawmakers who were arrested or indicted and the ones who were not? Asahi and other news media have reported that the charging threshold was ¥30 million. Ono, Tanigawa and Ikeda are suspected or charged with failing to report ¥40 to ¥50 million of funds, while the Abe faction failed to report less than ¥30 million.<br /><br />It is true that the Abe faction’s unreported amount is lower than in the cases of the Japan Dental Federation in 2004, in which the Heisei Study Group, currently the Motegi faction, received ¥100 million, or of the office of Ichiro Ozawa, which failed to report ¥2.1 billion in 2010. However, the Abe faction has run its kickback system for nearly two decades. Ordinary people will have a hard time understanding the decision not to indict Abe faction leaders.<br /><br />Predictably, the approval rating of Kishida’s Cabinet did not show any upsurge (<i>Asahi</i>: from 23% to 23%, <i>Yomiuri</i>: from 25% to 24%) after the indictments were announced. Kishida had at first underplayed the reporting failures, but he changed his tune after Asahi reported the prosecutors’ plan to indict not only people with the Abe and Nikai factions, but also some with Kishida faction. He abruptly <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=0e630579ef&e=1fe135a89d">announced the dissolution of his faction</a> to show his commitment to party reform and to limit further damage to his administration’s public standing.<br /><br />Kishida did not consult with other factions before announcing the dissolution of his faction. The announcement came as a surprise, if not a shock, to the LDP. Following Kishida’s announcement, the Abe and Nikai factions, both of which handled greater amounts of slush funds than the Kishida faction, called urgent assemblies and declared the dissolution of their factions. Although Kishida did not demand that other factions also dissolve, his decision effectively destroyed the two other major factions.<br /><br />The other three factions are in a difficult position. They are not alleged to have failed to report political funds, but they are the subject of guilt by association. The factions have stressed the positive aspects of factions as policy study groups. The leader of the Aso faction and the vice-president of LDP, <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=8d789296e6&e=1fe135a89d">Taro Aso, told Kishida</a> that he would not dissolve his faction. This faction, as well as the Motegi and Miroyama factions will decide how to respond formally to Kishida’s action after the Political Reform Headquarters of LDP issues its interim report later this month.<br /><br />The structure of the Kishida administration, supported by Aso and Motegi factions, may well collapse, if Kishida does not establish an appropriate rule for the activities of factions. Some in the LDP have discussed making any faction a genuine study group, and ending their roles in the distribution of political funds, support of member campaigns, and recommendation of members for cabinet or party leadership positions.<br /><br />The LDP may be divided between pro- and anti-faction groups if Aso and Motegi insist on retaining theirs. Kishida’s approval rating has declined for several months. Party leaders could replace Kishida, ensuring his failure in the next general election. Kishida has, however, gambled his administration’s survival on the public’s understanding of his party’s arcane factions without explaining the purpose their fundraising.<br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-40475298221228325412024-01-21T21:10:00.003-05:002024-01-21T21:44:24.177-05:00Monday Asia Events January 22, 2024<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxr6F2JWPgFEnZX87gQOvPpa6TgRCKD76WGa_J0MJv2KU6GEQpBTS5qufeGXBAF0RV2awRzNwZOdkkkzbAvPVL8PZFRyp04yUwOuw5ZBfsA-fzff0Sn45RsBWb6WhXv-xL371_6EE6RPH2y0tMHVfiMLqbVZCkLHoahoBwD8pH8zp6o6WM-0bCR3gt_cxq/s520/monday-blocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="520" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxr6F2JWPgFEnZX87gQOvPpa6TgRCKD76WGa_J0MJv2KU6GEQpBTS5qufeGXBAF0RV2awRzNwZOdkkkzbAvPVL8PZFRyp04yUwOuw5ZBfsA-fzff0Sn45RsBWb6WhXv-xL371_6EE6RPH2y0tMHVfiMLqbVZCkLHoahoBwD8pH8zp6o6WM-0bCR3gt_cxq/w200-h113/monday-blocks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times;"><b><a href="https://www.csis.org/events/report-launch-indias-private-power-market">REPORT LAUNCH: INDIA'S PRIVATE POWER MARKET- EXPANDING PRIVATE SECTOR ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION.</a> 1/22</b>, 8:00-9:00am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Vishal Kumar Dev (IAS), Principal Secretary, Energy, Government of Odisha; Dr. Praveer Sinha, MD & CEO, Tata Power. <br /><br /><b><a href="https://www.csis.org/events/what-expect-cross-strait-dynamics-2024-beyond">SURVEYING U.S. AND TAIWAN EXPERTS: WHAT TO EXPECT FOR CROSS-STRAIT DYNAMICS IN 2024 AND BEYOND.</a> 1/22</b>, 9:30-10:30am (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Bonny Lin, Director, China Power Project and Senior Fellow for Asian Security, CSIS; Chen Ming-chi, Chief Executive Officer, Institute for National Defense and Security Research; Kristen Gunness, Senior Policy Researcher, RAND Corporation; Ivan Kanapathy, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University; Lee Hsi-min, Senior Fellow, Project 2049 Institute.</span></div></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-58fe596c-7fff-8a97-e768-6dc3f06ad272"><p style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><br /></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/live/what-taiwans-elections-mean-for-the-u-s-and-the-world/" target="_blank">WHAT TAIWAN’S ELECTIONS MEAN FOR THE U.S.—AND THE WORLD. </a>1/22, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">10:00am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Foreign Policy Magazine. Speaker: Raja Krishnamoorthi, U.S. Representative, Illinois’s 8th Congressional District. </span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></span></p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-book-talk-on-recentering-pacific-asia-regional-china-and-world-order-tickets-793333059537 " target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">BOOK TALK: </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">RECENTERING PACIFIC ASIA: REGIONAL CHINA AND WORLD ORDER</span></span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-book-talk-on-recentering-pacific-asia-regional-china-and-world-order-tickets-793333059537 " target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">. </span></a><span style="color: #0a0000;">1/22, </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">2:00-3:00pm (EST), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: East-West Center in Washington. Speakers: author Brantly Womack, Senior Faculty Fellow, University of Virginia; Chas Freeman (joining virtually), Former Assistant Secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs. </span></span>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-85153627738336799812024-01-17T17:26:00.000-05:002024-01-17T17:26:50.597-05:00Kishida's LDP reform?<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12px;"><em><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif;"></span></span></em></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12px;"><em><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjawI6RMPG1cZ5SXVAk_B0KF3XDT7at7xyL0RPHLpDV-ILNGPutWuPPeskuD641fvYu4GJW12irlNUt1a_P_r07gUySzRy_mTjkMISXtU8UFGWeYZFzRpSssUY866LMnIKOBr_m2tDuCRajP1euG1Db86AhnzaEIwqNOJFNM18O8v4wi7XhUbkySZr5K2x2/s376/ldp%20logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="134" data-original-width="376" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjawI6RMPG1cZ5SXVAk_B0KF3XDT7at7xyL0RPHLpDV-ILNGPutWuPPeskuD641fvYu4GJW12irlNUt1a_P_r07gUySzRy_mTjkMISXtU8UFGWeYZFzRpSssUY866LMnIKOBr_m2tDuCRajP1euG1Db86AhnzaEIwqNOJFNM18O8v4wi7XhUbkySZr5K2x2/s320/ldp%20logo.png" width="320" /></a></span></span></em></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12px;"><em><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif;">Political Reform Headquarters Established Again</span></span></em></strong><p></p><div><br />By Takuya Nishimura, Senior Fellow, Former Editorial Writer for <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />The views expressed by the author are his own and are not associated with <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br />You can find his blog,<a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=8204bea57d&e=1fe135a89d"> J Update here</a>.<br />January 14, 2023. Special to Asia Policy Point<br /><br /><br />Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president, has established in the LDP a Political Reform Headquarters [PRH, 政治刷新本<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Meiryo, メイリオ, "Hiragino Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">部</span>]. <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=9cb986ef38&e=1fe135a89d">The PRH held its first meeting January 11</a>. The PRH must deal with two issues: the transparency of political fundraising and the legitimacy of factions in the LDP. With the PRH, Kishida is trying to present himself as the leader of party reform. The PRH, however, lacks an ambitious idea that would fundamentally change the LDP’s deeply rooted political culture. Thus, expectations for a new-born LDP are low.</div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" />In a <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=11d3b6ad7e&e=1fe135a89d">press conference</a> on January 4, Kishida announced plans to set up a body to discuss political reform in the LDP. Article 79 of the <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=fe66805404&e=1fe135a89d">LDP Constitution</a> states that “If necessary, The President, with the consent of the General Council (GC), may establish special committees.” The General Council approved the PRH on January 10. One of the members of GC, Shigeru Ishida, demanded that all LDP member in the Diet participate.<br /><br />It is not clear how much Kishida was involved in the selection of the 38 members of the PRH. They have already invited criticism: ten members are from the Abe faction – the faction suspected of systematically distributing slush funds to its members. In fact, nine out of the ten members of the Abe faction on the PRH are suspected of receiving kickbacks from party ticket income. The Abe faction occupies more seats on the PRH than any other faction, and the same number of seats as the independents.<br /><br />Kishida argues that a large representation of the Abe faction is necessary to reflect the composition of the LDP. However, whether lawmakers suspected of being involved in a scandal can discuss party reform is an open question. <i>Asahi Shimbun</i> <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=00187850a6&e=1fe135a89d">reported</a> two days after the PRH’s first meeting that nine of the ten members from Abe faction were suspected of accepting secret funds from the faction. Kishida has yet to put to rest doubts about legitimacy of the PRH.<br /><br />The PRH will submit an interim report to Kishida before the opening of the ordinary session of the Diet on January 26. Kishida said at the first meeting: “The people keep a skeptical eye on the factions and the political funds of the LDP. The LDP needs to change itself to restore confidence and protect democracy in Japan.”<br /><br />The PRH’s first order of business is to enhance the transparency of political funds. Some have urged amending the Political Funds Control Act in the next Diet session to lower the threshold for reporting the names of buyers of fundraising party tickets from ¥200 thousand or more to ¥50 thousand. Other reforms would include stricter penalties for violations and the loss of status for a lawmaker when his or her accounting manager is found guilty of a violation.<br /><br />The LDP’s coalition partner, Komeito, has demanded that the LDP’s fundraising reforms include disclosure of previously unreported expenditures by lawmakers of funds distributed by the LDP. There has been no discussion in the leading parties about a prohibition on fundraising parties.<br /><br />Two independent members of the PRH have argued for the abolition of factions in the LDP. In the PRH meeting, independent member former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that the abolition of factions would be understandable to the public. Another independent member, son of former Junichiro Koizumi, Shinjiro Koizumi, concurred. <br /><br />To the independent members, factions are the source of the slush fund scandal. But most lawmakers believe that factions are necessary. The LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi argues that the factions educate young politicians, a task that the LDP as a whole has not taken up. Because the Kishida Administration relies on support from of the Aso, Moteki and Kishida factions, Kishida surely does not intend to eliminate them.<br /><br />Other members have urged the LDP look back to the Political Reform Guidelines of 1989. At the time, public distrust in the party caused by the Recruit Scandal, in which realtor Recruit Cosmos distributed unlisted stocks to party members, the LDP restricted fundraising parties and demanded that the LDP president, secretary general and other board members leaving their factions.<br /><br />But now, Kishida was the head of his faction until the slush fund scandal was revealed. Vice President Taro Aso and Secretary General Motegi continue to lead their factions. The faction leaders have argued that the factions are no more than study groups. That can only be true if their factions are independent of political fundraising, election strategy, and the selection of cabinet ministers or LDP board members.<br /><br />Faction leaders also have said that political fundraising is a necessary cost of democracy. That could have been true before the LDP was established. But post-war Japanese politics is replete with scandals about secret funds, including the incidents involving Showa Denko, shipbuilding, Lockheed, and Recruit. The most notable reform came from outside the LDP: the Hosokawa Administration (9 August 1993 – 28 April 1994) created a subsidy for the parties in order to avoid secret political funds.<br /><br />Former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi (30 July 1998 – 5 April 2000) established an Executive Headquarters for Political System Reform Headquarters (政治制度改革本部) in 1999. This “headquarters” had its name changed twice: Party Reform Executive Headquarters [党改革実行本部] (2004-2010) and Executive Headquarters for Reform of Party and Political System [党・政治制度改革実行本部] (2010-2021).<br /><br />In 2021, Kishida again renamed the “headquarters” to the <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=3c97c7bb22&e=1fe135a89d">Party Reform Executive Headquarters [党改革実行本部]</a>. So, what is the difference between the 2021 headquarters and 2024 PRH? The only explanation is that by establishing a new organization focused on "political reform" without any specific idea for party reform Kishida hopes to deflect attention away from his ailing Administration to the tainted LDP. He believes this will garner him the public’s support. Maybe</div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-46725934450420966242024-01-11T15:08:00.001-05:002024-01-11T15:08:26.035-05:00Kishida's Difficult New Year<p><em style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 14px;"><strong></strong></em></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 14px;"><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1EkE1VNdc3OMRKqxkIt6oHG9qqo9T1L9Hc8gbzaGYHOYFZeh6fyFU4aI2POAVUv4KgmHmIsVKgwtOwpzpro5bblBmOQ5uHHhoY4P51mn3oeNZduEUaGkW3GarhNxQNHDsplvsDPO23EEwRUTzXmLi9DQuJs6JmvLZNsQltwZndVs4RZ4UUcqeHsLRGWha/s1300/74313341-illustration-du-dragon-chinois-traditionnel-caractere-chinois-traduire-dragon.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1300" data-original-width="1300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1EkE1VNdc3OMRKqxkIt6oHG9qqo9T1L9Hc8gbzaGYHOYFZeh6fyFU4aI2POAVUv4KgmHmIsVKgwtOwpzpro5bblBmOQ5uHHhoY4P51mn3oeNZduEUaGkW3GarhNxQNHDsplvsDPO23EEwRUTzXmLi9DQuJs6JmvLZNsQltwZndVs4RZ4UUcqeHsLRGWha/w200-h200/74313341-illustration-du-dragon-chinois-traditionnel-caractere-chinois-traduire-dragon.webp" width="200" /></a></strong></em></div><em style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 14px;"><strong>It Can Always Get Worse</strong></em><p></p><p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">By Takuya Nishimura</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">, Senior Fellow, Former Editorial Writer for </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">The Hokkaido Shimbun</em><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">The views expressed by the author are his own and are not associated with </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">The Hokkaido Shimbun</em><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">You can find his blog,</span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Dce150f4f238100eeff271c73e%26id%3D906fbaff6d%26e%3D1fe135a89d&source=gmail&ust=1705004279636000&usg=AOvVaw1P0rQpRYI1Q1oYhuf647PR" href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=906fbaff6d&e=1fe135a89d" style="background-color: white; color: #007c89; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" target="_blank"> J Update here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">January 7, 2023. Special to Asia Policy Point</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">Prime Minister Fumio Kishida enters the new year with new problems. The slush fund scandal continues to invite distrust with the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) factions. Adding to public skepticism is the Kishida administration’s handling of the great earthquake in Noto Peninsula, an airplane collision at Haneda International Airport. Kishida must master these issues if his administration is to survive.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">At the very beginning of the year, Kishida spoke of ending Japan’s decades-long deflation. In the </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Dce150f4f238100eeff271c73e%26id%3D9ee131b540%26e%3D1fe135a89d&source=gmail&ust=1705004279636000&usg=AOvVaw0ebhDj9WXEJ114mEc_7BwZ" href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=9ee131b540&e=1fe135a89d" style="background-color: white; color: #007c89; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" target="_blank">new year’s reflection</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;"> published January 1</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">, he planned to free 2024 from the country’s deflationary mindset and its cost-cutting tendencies. “We need to have the public and private sectors work together so that everyone in the public feels tangibly what it is like for wages to rise and disposable incomes to increase,” said Kishida, aiming to achieve wage increases that surpass rises in prices.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">But even before the end of New Year’s Day, a great earthquake with a magnitude 7.6 hit Noto Peninsula. In a press conference immediately thereafter, Kishida announced the establishment of a headquarters for disaster management and his personal leadership for delivering necessary support for the victims. He canceled his ritual visit to the Ise Jingu and stayed in Tokyo to supervise relief efforts.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">Although the Japan Meteorological Agency issued warnings for a tsunami in the coastal areas facing the Sea of Japan, the damage caused by the earthquake was not as great as that resulting from the Great Northeast Japan Earthquake in 2011. The area including the Noto Peninsula, however, is home to many nuclear power plants. While there have not been reports of power plant accidents on the peninsula, a public debate over the safety of nuclear power plants is emerging.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">Kishida has held daily press conferences to update the country on the situation on the peninsula and the measures his government has taken. The task is daunting. Aftershocks from the earthquake have damaged roads and other transportation infrastructure, making it difficult to send food, water or fuel to the peninsula. A major fire in Wajima City caused many deaths. The flu and Covid are becoming more prevalent in the shelters.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">Considering the lessons of previous great earthquakes, Kishida </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Dce150f4f238100eeff271c73e%26id%3De7da46644b%26e%3D1fe135a89d&source=gmail&ust=1705004279636000&usg=AOvVaw2HP-2XRVIJUQu1Y31ZLDg2" href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=e7da46644b&e=1fe135a89d" style="background-color: white; color: #007c89; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" target="_blank">announced</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;"> that he would spend the reserve in the FY 2023 budget for reconstruction and increase the reserve in the draft of FY 2024 budget. Kishida has sought the cooperation of the leaders of the five parties, but they will find it difficult to agree even in face of appearing in opposition to disaster aid. Thus far, Kishida seems to be managing the disaster well, but he cannot afford any mistakes. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">The very next day after the earthquake, a Japan Airlines (JAL) passenger jet was landing on a runway at Haneda Airport when it collided with a Japan Coast Guard (JCG) plane. Both planes caught fire, and JCG plane exploded, causing five deaths. In a near miracle, the crew and passengers of the JAL plane evacuated before the plane was incinerated.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">According to </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Dce150f4f238100eeff271c73e%26id%3D8913082cc4%26e%3D1fe135a89d&source=gmail&ust=1705004279636000&usg=AOvVaw3ARy6l2aPfzeGmgMJGQeoQ" href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=8913082cc4&e=1fe135a89d" style="background-color: white; color: #007c89; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" target="_blank">the record of traffic control</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">, the JCG plane had not been given permission to enter the runway. But the record also </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Dce150f4f238100eeff271c73e%26id%3Db01e2dade5%26e%3D1fe135a89d&source=gmail&ust=1705004279636000&usg=AOvVaw23n7xymIxJlCY1Us8sWbzg" href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=b01e2dade5&e=1fe135a89d" style="background-color: white; color: #007c89; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" target="_blank">indicated</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;"> that the air traffic controller did not notice that the JCG plane was on the runway when the JAL plane was landing. As if to amplify this disaster, the JCG plane was on its way to Niigata to deliver relief to the Noto Peninsula earthquake victims. The Kishida administration needs to make a better effort to determine the cause of accident, and it must take measures to prevent any similar accidents.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">The disasters took Kishida’s attention away from the slush fund scandal, which keeps developing. The Tokyo Public Prosecutors Office has interviewed lawmakers in the Abe faction, including Hakubun Shimomura, the former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The prosecutors have also raided the offices of the Abe faction and two lawmakers, one of whom, Yoshitaka Ikeda was arrested. The leader of the Nikai faction, Toshihiro Nikai, was also interviewed. As investigation continues, public trust in the government erodes.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">In </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Dce150f4f238100eeff271c73e%26id%3D2f0e66979b%26e%3D1fe135a89d&source=gmail&ust=1705004279636000&usg=AOvVaw1nr-lM9inJ1K8QeNSYiy0X" href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=2f0e66979b&e=1fe135a89d" style="background-color: white; color: #007c89; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" target="_blank">the press conference on January 4<sup>th</sup></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">, the fifth of 2024 and ordinarily the first conference in the new year, Kishida emphasized his determination to restore public confidence. “I am leading the effort of reforming LDP,” Kishida said. He announced the creation of a new office in the LDP to enhance the transparency of political funds and to set rules for faction activity.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">However, Kishida did not identify any specific political reforms. The leading parties have suggested that the threshold for reporting political funds should be lowered from ¥200 thousand to ¥50 thousand. Asked about it, Kishida was non-committal and said that it would be an issue for the parties to discuss in the Diet.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">Kishida has said that he is working on other matters that cannot be postponed, such as wage increases, growth in the national birthrate, and international security. But given his administration’s low approval rating, political ethics should be the very “issue that cannot be postponed.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0000; font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12px;">The ordinary session of the Diet convenes later this month. The FY 2024 budget bill will pass the Diet by the end of March. It is likely that the lawmakers will talk about a possible snap election of House of Representatives in April or later. If the idea that Kishida is too weak to survive a snap election grows, there will be a movement in the LDP to replace Kishida as prime minister. Kishida must restore confidence so that he will be reelected in LDP presidential election in the fall.</span></p>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-73078500706255703632024-01-07T22:39:00.003-05:002024-01-10T12:13:58.719-05:00Monday Asia Events January 8, 2024<p><b><a href="https://www.cgdev.org/event/book-talk-scaling-development-impact" target="_blank"></a></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfTegkdAlT5grS7ti30ZhtQ2W79Zj2WjjKOvSfbE9SWz9ltnOVYtGAGts17f9-9p95FaKlD758BLgqA1X1KxXAmraLx40zE-WhBLbik-DfJbmQdADbIlWr8E4w5Z9R9XgLBq_NePbmlILTZjCgwzwK-nP-x4IFAwVH8nK_Ftmwcl6WcnSbJUF334vPhOa/s520/monday-blocks.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="520" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfTegkdAlT5grS7ti30ZhtQ2W79Zj2WjjKOvSfbE9SWz9ltnOVYtGAGts17f9-9p95FaKlD758BLgqA1X1KxXAmraLx40zE-WhBLbik-DfJbmQdADbIlWr8E4w5Z9R9XgLBq_NePbmlILTZjCgwzwK-nP-x4IFAwVH8nK_Ftmwcl6WcnSbJUF334vPhOa/w200-h113/monday-blocks.jpg" width="200" /></a></b></div><b><br />BOOK TALK: SCALING UP DEVELOPMENT IMPACT. 1/8</b>, 9:00-10:15am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Center for Global Development (CGD). Speakers: Johannes Linn, Co-Chair, Scaling Community of Practice; John Floretta, Global Deputy Executive Director, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL); Veronica Zavala, Former Peruvian Minister of Transport and Communications, Former General Manager for Central America, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). <b><a href="https://amzn.to/41WvnQD" target="_blank">PURCHASE BOOK</a>.</b><p></p><p><b><a href="https://www.cato.org/events/old-right-new-right-what-history-suggests-about-future-gop-foreign-policy">*OLD RIGHT, NEW RIGHT? WHAT HISTORY SUGGESTS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF GOP FOREIGN POLICY. </a>1/8, </b>11:00am-12:30pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Cato Institute. Speakers: Brandan P. Buck, PhD Candidate, George Mason University; Victoria Coates, Vice President, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, Heritage Foundation; Justin Logan, Director of Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute.</p>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-77225097981201012182023-12-23T09:05:00.001-05:002023-12-23T09:05:31.581-05:00The Decoupling of the Abe Faction<p></p><b>JAPAN POINT ⚫️ 日本ポイント<br /></b><br />research on contemporary Japan<br />Vol. VII, No. 3, December 18, 2023<br /><br /><b>by Takuya Nishimura, Senior Fellow</b><br /><i>retired chief editorial writer for the Hokkaido Shimbun</i><br /><br /><br />On Thursday, December 14, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida replaced four Cabinet Ministers affiliated with the faction founded by Shinzo Abe (Seiwa-kai) in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). This faction is suspected of having distributed secret slush funds to its members. On the same day, two LDP board members also submitted their resignations to Kishida, reportedly in frustration with Kishida singling out the Abe faction in connection with the growing political funds scandal.<br /><br />A deep rift is appearing within the ruling LDP. At his <a href="https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/101_kishida/statement/2023/1214kaiken.html">Thursday press conference</a>, Kishida did not explain how he, as LDP president, would take responsibility for the expanding scandal. “I will deal with this issue, becoming a fireball, at the frontline of the LDP for restoring the people’s credibility,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwiUgqNT6ro">Kishida just said</a>. Even after removing the Abe faction Cabinet ministers, the Kishida administration is in jeopardy.<br /><br />The Prime Minister also emphasized that he will promote party reform while watching closely the Tokyo Prosecutor’s investigation. The direction of the reforms will be based on who is ultimately arrested or indicted. Kishida suggested that there may be a discussion on amending the Political Funds Control Act or reconsidering the roles of factions in LDP politics. He concluded that he cannot afford to think about a snap election or a Cabinet reshuffle until after the budget bill for FY 2024 passes the Diet in March.<br /><br />Kishida replaced Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno with the recently former Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi, who serves as the titular head of the Kishida faction. Matsuno reportedly received over ¥10 million of secret money from the sales of fundraising party tickets. The Asahi Shimbun reported that Kishida first offered the post to former Minister of Defense Yasukazu Hamada, but he declined. <br /><br />Ken Saito, a former Minister of Justice, succeeded Yasutoshi Nishimura, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. Kishida also replaced the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communication, Junji Suzuki, with former Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto as well the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ichiro Miyashita, with former Minister of State for Regional Revitalization Tetsushi Sakamoto. Matsuno, Nishimura, Suzuki and Miyashita are reportedly all implicated in the slush funds scandal. <br /><br />[Backgrounds of the new Cabinet Members will be the subject of the next Japan Point]<br /><br />The Chairman of the LDP’s Policy Research Council, Koichi Hagiuda, and the Chairman of the LDP Diet Affairs, Tsuyoshi Takagi, handed in their resignations on Thursday. Although Kishida had not said unequivocally that they would be replaced, these two leaders of the Abe faction nevertheless walked out. Some in the Abe faction interpreted their departures as a protest against Kishida’s focus only on the Abe faction’s wrongdoing. The Kishida and Nikai factions are also said to have distributed secret flush funds to their faction members. <br /><br />One of the members of the Abe faction, State Minister of Defense Hiroyuki Miyazawa revealed on Wednesday that he had been instructed by the faction not to record money received in the political funds report and to not say anything about it. The Special Investigation Department of the Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office will conduct further interviews with Abe faction members.<br /><br />In the press conference at the closing of Diet session on Thursday, Kishida said that he regretted the doubts that had arisen about the LDP’s use of political funds. He promised reforms to restore the party’s credibility, but did not identify any specific measures. “I will make it clear based on the facts which will be confirmed later,” is all that Kishida said about the reforms. This could mean that if the criminal investigation is focused solely on the Abe faction, Kishida would have a basis for removing the Abe faction from the LDP.<br /><br />This was a very unusual comment by the top LDP leader. LDP leaders have in past said that “When a scandal is revealed, the politician is responsible for explaining it for him/herself.” This time, no one in the Abe faction said anything about the scandal and has said only that the investigation is ongoing. Nevertheless, Kishida has ousted only members of the Abe faction, as if only the Abe faction violated the law. LDP members no doubtless will regard Kishida’s comments as hostile to the Abe faction.<br /><br />Excluding the Abe faction does not mean that all the problems in the Kishida administration have been solved. Other factions including Kishida’s own are responsible for LDP secret money scandals as well. If someone in the LDP is eventually arrested, Kishida, as the party’s president, will not be able to escape responsibility.<br /><br />It is likely that ethics in politics will be one of the hottest topics in the Diet session beginning January of next year. The Constitutional Democratic Party has established an investigation team to look into fundraising parties in preparation for debates over amendments to the Political Funds Control Act. The CDP has argued that the LDP should hand its administration over to the opposition.<br /><br />What the other parties are most afraid of is an abrupt counterattack by Kishida: dissolution of the House of Representatives and a new general election. However, the Kishida administration now lacks the political power to do so. <a href="https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/30134">The latest Jiji poll</a> showed that the approval rating for the Kishida Cabinet has dropped as low as 17.1 percent.“ Kishida can never have a snap election,” <a href="https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2023121300392&g=pol">said the President of Komeito, Natuso Yamaguchi, in a radio interview</a>, “because he has no cause to do it without any effort to restore public credibility on the politics.”<br /><br />Other poll results on the Cabinet’s approval rating are: 16% (-5) of approval rate for the Kishida Cabinet and 17% (-7) for the LDP in Mainichi Shimbun; 22.3% (-6.0) and 26.0%(-8.1) in the Kyodo News; 23% (-2) and 23% (-4) in the Asahi Shimbun; 25%(+1) and 28% (±0) in the Yomiuri Shimbun; 26% (-4) and 30% (-4) in the Nikkei Shimbun. In the Yomiuri poll, the most popular pick for next the prime minister was Shigeru Ishiba (20%) followed by Shinjiro Koizumi (17%), and Taro Kono (12%).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT4IBBv92ajBTAvn7v5r9cC9yShNCuQG_Mf-DQHG8ynit8qH_II9H3jiQtJk60Db6kXROs2NbsPlt9so_K1l_xXz-VL0DUgqMHC-NiUOQO3ej0J68LNTp8OVBXmOLHANbThJWF09bgQtWezjOrGdbgvuSyujVyYyIAkd33jW0z5XN9exsAxW49WjX6mXwI/s2332/Screenshot%202023-12-22%20at%207.55.15%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="2332" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT4IBBv92ajBTAvn7v5r9cC9yShNCuQG_Mf-DQHG8ynit8qH_II9H3jiQtJk60Db6kXROs2NbsPlt9so_K1l_xXz-VL0DUgqMHC-NiUOQO3ej0J68LNTp8OVBXmOLHANbThJWF09bgQtWezjOrGdbgvuSyujVyYyIAkd33jW0z5XN9exsAxW49WjX6mXwI/w580-h201/Screenshot%202023-12-22%20at%207.55.15%20PM.png" width="580" /></a><br /><br />Kishida may hope for a snap election before the LDP presidential election next fall.The last chance for him to dissolve the House would be sometime between the passage of the FY 2024 budget bill in March and the end of the ordinary session of the Diet in the middle of June, if the session is not extended. Although the best timing for him would be just after his state visit to United States , which is expected in April, there is no guarantee that his approval rating will improve by then or after.<br /><br /><br /><b>OBSERVATION FROM WASHINGTON<br />A Scare for Japan Managers<br /><br />by APP Washington</b><br /><br />Prime Minister Kishida has done a bit of house cleaning, even though it was forced by the Tokyo Prosecutor’s Office. The result is likely to lessen the influence of the conservative nationalists in Japan’s government. The ministers and party officials removed were among Japan’s most conservative, history denier politicians. These are also the men with whom Washington’s Japan managers had or were cultivating closer ties. <br /><br />It was Prime Minister Abe and his supporters who had the government commit millions of on-and off-budget funds to public relations. The primary focus of these efforts has been to scrub clean Japan’s wartime history and re-fantasize Japanese culture, all to advance a military alliance. The Abe government coordinated with private Japanese foundations to expand support of Washington think tanks, congressional programs, and Japanese-American cultural organizations. They also encouraged the efforts by Japanese nationalist organizations such Happy Science, Worldmate (Handa), and the Unification Church to build relationships with American rightwing groups such as the American Conservative Union’s CPAC as a way to access Trump and MAGA politicians.<br /><br />The demise of the conservative nationalist Abe faction and the sidelining of its supporters suggest that the era of easy funding for Washington institutions involved with Japan-focused research and cultural activities is coming to an end. The removal of the conservative nationalists from the Japanese administration may also signal a shift away from defense budget increases and increasing alignment with the U.S. on security policies. The “Alliance” may become less a subject of support and study. This all presupposes that the coming changes are as ideological as they are political.<br />Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-59331043420682870952023-12-17T18:41:00.005-05:002023-12-17T21:23:38.594-05:00Monday Asia Events December 18, 2023<span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><a href="https://www.hudson.org/events/perils-corporate-engagement-china" target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.hudson.org/events/perils-corporate-engagement-china" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjigZyh1m9SmI7MskjuY2kiP3cc7hGY2pnE1jnmaD-TLwRcwhFdl2bNqZiLeSatQSOOBPEKCFjkVbmHeqYB-G-UHXaXrBOt5BRtH20FFY5nj2TYj1sm3SN1725wiDkwUk3b5S4AcnkQAS0Rmwt8KCIMoeDD7rt0koPwvH7l_22WeTTdqOLC22HY1HKpOVdp/s520/monday-blocks.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="520" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjigZyh1m9SmI7MskjuY2kiP3cc7hGY2pnE1jnmaD-TLwRcwhFdl2bNqZiLeSatQSOOBPEKCFjkVbmHeqYB-G-UHXaXrBOt5BRtH20FFY5nj2TYj1sm3SN1725wiDkwUk3b5S4AcnkQAS0Rmwt8KCIMoeDD7rt0koPwvH7l_22WeTTdqOLC22HY1HKpOVdp/w200-h113/monday-blocks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><a href="https://www.hudson.org/events/perils-corporate-engagement-china">THE PERILS OF CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT WITH CHINA</a></b><a href="https://www.hudson.org/events/perils-corporate-engagement-china">.</a><b> 12/18</b>, 10:00-11:00am (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Hudson Institute. Speakers: John Noonan, Senior Advisor, Polaris National Security; Thomas J. Duesterberg, Senior Fellow; David Asher, Senior Fellow; Miles Yu, Senior Fellow and Director, China Center. </span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b><a href="https://quincyinst.org/event/possibilities-and-perils-of-chinas-presence-in-the-middle-east/" target="_blank">POSSIBILITIES AND PERILS OF CHINA’S PRESENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST</a>. 12/18</b>, 10:00-11:00am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Quincy Institute. Speakers: Yu Jie, Senior Research Fellow, China in the Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House; William Figueroa, Assistant Professor, History and Theory of International Relations, University of Groningen; Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President, Quincy Institute. </span></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><a href="https://www.hudson.org/events/finnish-foreign-minister-elina-valtonen-future-us-finland-relations?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Event%20Invitation%20%20Finnish%20Foreign%20Minister%20Elina%20Valtonen%20on%20the%20Future%20of%20US-Finland%20Relations&utm_content=Event%20Invitation%20%20Finnish%20Foreign%20Minister%20Elina%20Valtonen%20on%20the%20Future%20of%20US-Finland%20Relations+CID_62da7c036f60ffdfa5d04e97e033c4cc&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=View%20event%20here">FINNISH FOREIGN MINISTER ELINA VALTONEN ON THE FUTURE OF US-FINLAND RELATIONS.</a></span> 12/18, </b>3:15-5:00pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Hudson Institute. Speakers: Luke Coffey, Senior Fellow; Elina Valtonen, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Finland. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://www.ans.org/webinars/view-safe2023/" target="_blank">CREATING A SAFE, SECURE, AND HEALTHY GLOBAL NUCLEAR INDUSTRY.</a> 12/18</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">, 4:00-5:00pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: American Nuclear Society. Speakers: J'Tia Hart, Chief Science Officer, National and Homeland Security Directorate, INL; Anagha Iyengar, Deputy Program Director for Analytics and Innovation, NNSA Office of International Nuclear Security; William Tobey, former Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, NNSA. </span></div></div></div><div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><a href="https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/taiwan-studies-workshop-panel-discussion-elections-in-taiwan-time-for-a-change/" target="_blank">IN TAIWAN: TIME FOR A CHANGE?</a> 12/18</b>, 7:00- 8:30 pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Harvard University. Speakers: Lev Nachman, National Cheng-chih University; Sarah Newland, Smith College; Tsai Chia-hung, National Cheng-chih University. </span></div></div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-76029629664975546202023-12-14T17:35:00.000-05:002023-12-14T17:35:12.489-05:00Change Coming to Japan's Administration<b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Possible Power Shift in the LDP</span></i></b><div><b><br />By Takuya Nishimura</b>, Senior Fellow, Former Editorial Writer for The Hokkaido Shimbun<br />The views expressed by the author are his own and are not associated with The Hokkaido Shimbun<br />You can find his blog,<a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=02c34a7e5a&e=cc5d13052e"> J Update here</a>.<br />December 11, 2023. Special to Asia Policy Point<br /><br />The expanding money scandals in Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) factions promises a significant power shift in the party, and maybe the government. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida must replace those Cabinet and LDP board members who have been identified receiving secret money from their factions. So far, the focus has been on the Seiwa-kai (Abe faction) that has controlled the party and government since most of this century. As a result, it is expected that the Abe faction will lose its grip on Kishida administration.<br /><br />Most LDP factions, however, including Kishida’s own, are not free of scandal. Although Kishida will reshuffle his Cabinet this week after the Diet session ends on the 13th, the magnitude of the scandal has yet to be determined. It is also unclear how the political damage will affect Abe-era policies.<br /><br />At the beginning, the scandal looked like some mistakes of each faction in reporting about money of fundraising parties. But it entered another phase when the existence of secret money was revealed. Some factions returned the money received for fundraiser tickets to their members without disclosing them on the political funds report. Abe’s faction imposed a quota on each member for the sales of party tickets, and if a member had sold beyond the quota, the surplus was returned to the member.<br /><br /><a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=b87b0516a6&e=cc5d13052e">The amount of money</a> recorded on political funds report of the Abe faction was the least among five suspected factions in 2022. This faction is the largest in the LDP, and it seems implausible that they could disclose the smallest amount of money received for fundraising parties. Indeed, it strongly indicates that the Abe faction had a great amount of unrecorded secret money.<br /><br />The first target of the media was Chief Cabinet Secretary (CCS) Hirokazu Matsuno. <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=d534563fcf&e=cc5d13052e">Matsuno has reportedly received about ¥10 million</a> (approximately USD69,000) from the Abe faction as the surplus for ticket sales beyond his quota between 2018 and 2022. As the secretary general of the Abe faction between 2019 and 2021, Matsuno would certainly have known about the money coming in and going out of the faction. Nevertheless, as CCS, the spokesperson of the Kishida Cabinet, he refused to answer any questions about the secret money in a recent press conference.<br /><br /><a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=274cbf5f80&e=cc5d13052e">Asahi Shimbun reported</a> that other leaders of the Abe faction are suspected of having received surpluses as well. They include all of the “Five Leaders” of the Abe faction: the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry; Yasutoshi Nishimura; the Chairman of the LDP Policy Research Council, Koichi Hagiuda; the Chairman of the LDP Diet Affairs Committee, Tsuyoshi Takagi; the Secretary General of the LDP Upper House Caucus, Hiroshige Seko; and the head of the Abe faction, Ryu Shionoya.<br /><br />According to <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=b3b54d28ea&e=cc5d13052e">another news report,</a> Prime Minister Kishida has decided to replace all of these Five Leaders. Moreover, it is possible that all the ministers from Abe faction, including State Ministers and Parliamentary Vice-ministers, will be discharged from the administration. However, it is not easy to organize an administration without any member of the biggest faction in the controlling party. Accordingly, some members of the Abe faction without deep involvement in the scandal may be staying.<br /><br />The Abe faction has been exercising its power in the Kishida administration from the beginning and maintained it even after Abe died. Increases in the defense budget and Kishida’s support for a constitutional amendment would expand the military’s authority beyond self-defense have been necessary to gain the support of the Abe faction. If most or all of the Abe faction is forced out of the administration as a result of the scandal, Kishida may be able to focus on his own issues such as raising birth rate and shifting economic policy from growth to redistribution.<br /><br />Yet Kishida would not have an entirely free hand and will have to balance different considerations. On the one hand, even if Kishida is successful in establishing a new administration without representatives of the Abe faction, Kishida will still need to appease the faction. Otherwise, the faction may protest against Kishida or leave LDP. On the other hand, in order to raise his already low approval rating, Kishida must make fundamental reforms in the LDP.<br /><br />To assuage the public, Kishida has stepped down as the head of his own faction and ordering all the factions in the LDP to halt fundraising parties for some time. But the opposition parties have promoted a theory that the scandal is not only a violation of the Political Fund Control Act but also a tax evasion scheme. At a minimum, the LDP must be more transparent in dealing with political contributions and begin to discuss amendments to the laws governing fundraising parties.<br /><br />Reforms could bring new leadership to the LDP. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made LDP reform the ultimate goal of his administration. And he was successful at it.<br /><br />When Koizumi ran for president in 2001, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori’s administration was under the control of Heisei-ken of the Motegi faction. To limit the rule of Heisei-ken, Koizumi pursued no-faction politics, excluding any recommendations from the LDP factions when reshuffling his Cabinet and the LDP board.<br /><br />In 2004, Heisei-ken’s control ended for good with the discovery of a secret donation from the Japan Dental Federation to the Heisei-ken headed by Ryutaro Hashimoto. There are several parallels between those events and the current scandal.<br /><br />The 2004 scandal and the subsequent reforms enabled Koizumi to take over the political power of the factions and consolidate power to the prime minister’s faction. Only one faction survived -- the Seiwa-kai -- which Koizumi had headed just before he took office as prime minister. Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda retained the one-faction politics and were regarded as Seiwa-kai premiers. The faction’s control has lasted about two decades except when Democratic Party of Japan led the government.<br /><br />By contrast with Koizumi and Abe, Kishida has had to oversee multi-faction politics and maintain a delicate balance among the factions. At first under the control of Abe’s faction, Kishida has gradually come to rely upon the factions led by Taro Aso and Toshimitsu Motegi. The current scandal is an opportunity for Kishida rid his administration of the influence of Seiwa-kai. It will be fatal if these money scandals are found to spread beyond the Abe faction.<br /><br />Internal LDP politics and scandals aside, Kishida is facing his own challenges. He has been unable to explain his meeting with the leaders of organizations closely related to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (the Moonies). <a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=b94de51bdd&e=cc5d13052e">Asahi Shimbun reported</a> that the leaders of Unification Church’s United States Branch, Michael Jenkins, and of the Japan branch of Universal Peace Federation, Masayoshi Kajikuri, met with Kishida and former Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich. The mishandling of an explanation will be fatal to the Kishida administration.<br /><br />Thus, although Kishida is likely to succeed in eliminating the influence of the biggest faction in the LDP, he must show the public a new version of LDP politics, and himself.</div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-57788594109050166652023-12-11T00:32:00.003-05:002023-12-11T00:32:53.292-05:00Mondy Asia Events December 11, 2023<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwtuc1f9ZYXm5NmsyaOkBquGdXgIJDOqzjk-ewa4kqulWb1FxtaV4Xh6gFY-5woKVmLulMfYOcoLD4nB_TAsPmm6J8TRXS2fQVbukvpO_lAibDxGtEsEfpxNemFziCBnJWvN7QD_kPyXZ-KWNTHbUfYlM6wC38Ky6KojSuog1f4fav7C7NeE4-vqBMKLt/s520/monday-blocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="520" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfwtuc1f9ZYXm5NmsyaOkBquGdXgIJDOqzjk-ewa4kqulWb1FxtaV4Xh6gFY-5woKVmLulMfYOcoLD4nB_TAsPmm6J8TRXS2fQVbukvpO_lAibDxGtEsEfpxNemFziCBnJWvN7QD_kPyXZ-KWNTHbUfYlM6wC38Ky6KojSuog1f4fav7C7NeE4-vqBMKLt/w200-h113/monday-blocks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><b><a href="https://events.ceip.org/israelhamasintelligence" target="_blank">THE ISRAELI-HAMAS WAR: INTELLIGENCE, STRATEGY AND THE DAY AFTER</a>. 12/11,</b> 9:00-10:00am (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Carnegie. Speakers: Efraim Halevy, former director, Mossad; Admiral (ret). Ami Ayalon, former director, Israeli Security Agency; Aaron David Miller, senior fellow, Carnegie. <div><br /></div><b><a href="https://keia.org/event/the-rok-u-s-alliance-at-70-expanding-diplomatic-horizons-through-public-diplomacy/" target="_blank">THE ROK-U.S. ALLIANCE AT 70: EXPANDING DIPLOMATIC HORIZONS THROUGH PUBLIC DIPLOMACY</a>. 12/11</b>, 10:00-11:30am (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Korea Economic Institute (KEI). Speakers: H.E. Hyundong Cho, Ambassador, Republic of Korea to the U.S.A; Amb. Yuri Kim, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State; Amb. Donald Heflin, Executive Director, Edward R. Murrow Center for Global Diplomacy; Amb. Maureen Cormack, Former U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Former U.S. Embassy, Seoul Spokesperson; Amb. Jie-ae Sohn, ROK Ambassador for Cultural Cooperation. <div><br /></div><b><a href="https://www.csis.org/events/5g6g-technology-and-future-global-security" target="_blank">5G/6G TECHNOLOGY AND THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL SECURITY.</a> 12/11</b>, Noon-1:00pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speakers: Brendan Carr, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission; Keith Krach, Founder, Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy; Roslyn Layton, Senior Vice President, Strand Consult, Advisor, Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy; Clete Johnson, CSIS Senior Fellow. <br /><br /><b><a href="https://www.hudson.org/events/beyond-scif-countering-chinese-influence-operations-american-soil" target="_blank">BEYOND THE SCIF: COUNTERING CHINESE INFLUENCE OPERATIONS ON AMERICAN SOIL</a>. 12/11</b>, 12:30:1:30pm (EST), HYBRID. Sponsor: Hudson Institute. Speakers: John P. Walters, President and CEO; Miles Yu, Senior Fellow and Director, China Center; John Lee, Senior Fellow; Craig Singleton, China Program Deputy Director, Senior Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.<div><br /><b><a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/suhartos-cold-war-indonesia-southeast-asia-and-world" target="_blank">BOOK EVENT| SUHARTO'S COLD WAR: INDONESIA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, AND THE WORLD</a>. 12/11,</b> 4:00-5:30pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Wilson Center. Speakers: Mattias Fibiger, Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Business, Government, and International Economy Unit, Harvard Business School; Su Lin Lewis, Associate Professor in Modern Global History, University of Bristol; Bradley Simpson, Public Policy Scholar, Associate Professor of History and Asian Studies, University of Connecticut. <br /><b>PURCHASE BOOK:</b> <a href="https://amzn.to/46y2WJE">https://amzn.to/46y2WJE</a> <br /><br /><b><a href="https://www.csis.org/events/human-centered-economics-living-standards-nations " target="_blank">BOOK EVENT| *HUMAN-CENTERED ECONOMICS: THE LIVING STANDARDS OF NATIONS</a>. 12/11,</b> 5:00-6:00pm (EST), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: CSIS. Speaker: author Richard Samans, Director, Research Department, International Labour Organization (ILO). <b>PURCHASE BOOK:</b> <a href="https://amzn.to/46YxS5H">https://amzn.to/46YxS5H<br /></a><br /><p></p><p><br /></p></div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3770528279725873103.post-57562068423712691102023-12-10T22:39:00.003-05:002023-12-10T22:39:18.133-05:00Why Kishida is Changing His Cabinet<b><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFWOQ_JE3B8x5PldnOZTvEt8at6aIGfCeXhwhwrE2G5-UWpuq6Nf7PqvSGbg-EGrAwYcDEcT9xJvu_80T2bBZrE2HRFX8ntuTBq5Jk1b81PsXdchg1ySf_xWFqjq_2nu7e8oxSehEGSGdFtdq7nduzmGCSudm-GWvXM6mnqPiCTsnGrTgCT-VET8BTLGsd/s2000/Kishida.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="2000" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFWOQ_JE3B8x5PldnOZTvEt8at6aIGfCeXhwhwrE2G5-UWpuq6Nf7PqvSGbg-EGrAwYcDEcT9xJvu_80T2bBZrE2HRFX8ntuTBq5Jk1b81PsXdchg1ySf_xWFqjq_2nu7e8oxSehEGSGdFtdq7nduzmGCSudm-GWvXM6mnqPiCTsnGrTgCT-VET8BTLGsd/w200-h133/Kishida.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Faction Scandals Shake Kishida’s Administration</span></i></b><br /><br /><div><b>By Takuya Nishimura</b>, Senior Fellow, Former Editorial Writer for <i>The Hokkaido Shimbun<br />The views expressed by the author are his own and are not associated with </i>The Hokkaido Shimbun<br />You can find his blog,<a href="https://jiaponline.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ce150f4f238100eeff271c73e&id=35be2fe0cd&e=cc5d13052e"> J Update here</a>.<br />December 2, 2023. Special to Asia Policy Point<br /><br />“When three people get together, they make a faction. A faction is natural community in a society, and not so bad.” This has been the justification for the factions within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), particularly when they compete on political or money issues. Acting as an umbrella organization, the LDP can criticize any particular faction that goes rogue. However, the latest scandal, which concerns violations of the Political Funds Control Act, involves all the factions within the LDP and leaves the party with no opportunity to discipline a particular faction. <br /> <br />The Special Investigation Division of Tokyo Public Prosecutors Office has been investigating whether the LDP’s five major factions failed to report their income through fundraising parties between 2018 and 2021. The factions are the Seiwa-kai (Abe faction), Shisui-kai (Nikai faction), Heisei-ken (Motegi Group), Shiko-kai (Aso faction) and Kochi-kai (Kishida faction). As the president of LDP, Kishida urged each faction, including his own, to file corrected reports.<br /> <br />The Japan Communist Party’s Akahata <a href="https://www.jcp.or.jp/akahata/web_weekly/2022/11/06-week/#2022110604w">Shimbun </a>first broke this story in November 2022. Akahata reported that the five major LDP factions concealed their income, totaling about ¥25 million. A law professor at Kobe Gakuin University, Hiroshi Kamiwaki, thereafter, submitted allegations to the prosecutor’s office, arguing that the hidden income of would amount about ¥40 million between 2018 and 2021. Unreported income was also accumulated in 2022.<br /> <br />On the basis of the submission, the special investigation office began <a href="https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20231118/k10014262361000.html">the investigation</a> of the five factions, interviewing the officers of each faction.<br /> <br />The Political Funds Control Act requires each political organization, including each faction in the LDP, to report the names of buyers of tickets to party functions and the amount, when the sales to a buyer exceed ¥200 thousand. All of the LDP factions allegedly failed to report significant purchases: ¥19 million by the Abe faction, ¥9 million by the Nikai faction, ¥6 million by the Motegi faction, ¥4 million by the Aso faction, and ¥2 million by the Kishida faction.<br /> <br />In the discussion at the Committee on Budget of the House of Representatives, the head of the Constitutional Democratic Party, Kenta Izumi, asked Prime Minister Kishida what he knew about the scandal. “It was reported that there were some mishandlings on the political funding reports and they are in the process of correction,” said Kishida.<br /> <br />Kishida did not seem to have realized that there are serious doubts about his compliance with the law since he remains in charge of his faction. Prime ministers typically leave their factions when they take office in order to show some semblance of impartiality. But Kishida did not take this route and has continued at the head of his faction. He thus cannot escape responsibility for the operations of his faction, as previous prime ministers might have done. <br /> <br />News reports are now focusing on the use of the hidden money. The Abe faction is suspected of distributing the money to its member lawmakers. Distributions allegedly ranged from one hundred to several hundred million between 2018 and 2022.<br /> <br />The distributions would have arisen from ticket sales to the annual fundraising parties of the factions. Historically, these parties are subject to fewer regulations than direct contributions. Ticket sales of less than ¥200 thousand for a person do not have to be reported. The host of a party can receive all the proceeds of ticket sales after catering room fees have been paid.<br /> <br />The Abe faction imposes a quota of ticket sales each member, depending on the selling capacity of each member. The tickets are priced at ¥20 thousand each. The buyers are usually the business owners. Proceeds of the sales go to the faction. If the amount of sales for one buyer exceeds ¥200 thousand it should be recorded in the faction’s political fund report.<br /> <br />So, what happens when a member exceeds his or her quota? The Abe faction is suspected returning the surplus to the member without reporting it. The more tickets a member sells, the more he/she will be rewarded. The member can use the money in his or her own election campaign. It will be secret money free from any regulation. The return of funds to a member has been referred to as a “kickback” scheme<br /> <br />The chairman of the Abe faction, Ryu Shionoya, has admitted that the faction had been sending back the surplus to each member. But he later retreated, saying that he had not confirmed the facts. Two former secretaries general of the Abe faction, who are in the Kishida Cabinet, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimuira, did not directly answer a question about the secret money of a kickback arrangement in their press conferences. The prosecutors are investigating whether the same kickback system exists in other factions.<br /> <br />This latest scandal casts some doubt over the future of factions. While the factions take the form of policy study groups, they in fact work essentially to support the political activities of their members. When one lawmaker holds a fundraising party, colleagues of the same faction will attend and make speeches that praise the host politician and urge the audience to support him/her. The factions promote their candidates for the presidency, and the president usually becomes prime minister. This is a typical and traditional style of politics in LDP.<br /> <br />It is undeniable that this kind of politics is becoming obsolete. Old-time factions have been under the strong leadership of big bosses who could collect a great amount of money, but this system can no longer survive changes in the vehicles for politics and money raising. Lawmakers now have various methods of fundraising or communicating each other through internet.<br /> <br />As seen in the selection of ministers in the cabinet reshuffle in September, the Kishida administration is dependent on the balance of increasingly outmoded factions. That selection caused the consecutive resignations of several State Ministers or Parliamentary Vice-minister, contributing to a decline in the Kishida Administration’s approval rating. Kishida must realize the latest scandals will upset the balance on which his administration relies.</div>Asia Policy Pointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03784292872823996552noreply@blogger.com0