Japan's Abe Remains in Stalemate with China, S. Korea

Tokyo, Dec. 25 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe remains in a stalemate with China and South Korea one year after his inauguration while making some achievements on the economic front. Thanks to positive effects of his economic policy package, Abenomics, the Nikkei stock average has topped 16,000 for the first time in six years, while the dollar has soared to 104 yen from 85 yen. Public support ratings for Abe's cabinet have remained high even after his Liberal Democratic Party rammed the unpopular bill to enhance the protection of state secrets through the Diet early this month. Thanks mainly to the yen's weakening, earnings at Japanese exporters have improved. Against the background, Japan's gross domestic product expanded for the fourth consecutive quarter in the July-September period this year. The passage of the state secrecy bill has pushed down public support, but the approval ratings for Abe's cabinet still stay high around 50 pct, according to opinion polls by media organizations. The strong performance "is attributable to the stability of the economy," a government source says, explaining how Abe has earned his political capital on the economic front. Under the banner of making Japan a "proactive" contributor to world peace, Abe has launched the U.S.-style National Security Council, which he could not realize when he was previously prime minister between 2006 and 2007. At a meeting of the four core members of the prime minister, the chief cabinet secretary, the foreign minister and the defense minister on Monday, the NSC decided on the unprecedented step of providing rifle ammunition to South Korean troops participating in the U.N. peacekeeping operation in South Sudan. The provision has stirred up a controversy because Japan has a basic principle of not exporting weapons. In other fields, Abe has taken steps in line with his nationalist agenda, such as a decision to require that school textbooks refer to government views when dealing with controversial history and social issues. In fiscal 2014, Japan is set to increase its defense outlays for the second straight year, mainly to enhance remote island defense, bearing in mind China's enhanced activities near the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture. Beyond these measures is Abe's long-term goal of reviewing the government's interpretation of the constitution to lift a ban on the exercise of collective self-defense right and achieving amendments to the war-renouncing supreme law. In foreign affairs, Japan remains unable to improve its soured relations with China and South Korea. It is uncertain when Abe can meet with the leaders of the two neighboring countries. Tensions with China have heightened further after Beijing last month set an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea that encompasses the Senkakus. With South Korea, Japan has had a row even on the Ground Self-Defense Force troops' ammunition supplies in South Sudan. END