25/09/2007 13h59TOKYO (AFP) - Yasuo Fukuda, a dovish lawmaker who has vowed to revive his party and improve ties with Japan's neighbours, took over as prime minister Tuesday, admitting he was under intense pressure to perform.
Fukuda kept most of the last cabinet in tact, leaving fellow experienced insiders in key posts, saying his first priority was extending a controversial naval mission supporting US-led forces in Afghanistan.
"I would call this a cabinet that has its back to the wall," Fukuda told his inaugural news conference as premier.
Photo: Yasuo Fukuda (C)"If we do a single thing wrong, the Liberal Democratic Party may lose its control of the government," Fukuda said of his party.
The opposition seized control of one house of parliament in July and has promised to step up pressure on Fukuda by blocking renewal of the Afghanistan mission and pressing for early elections.
Fukuda replaced Shinzo Abe, an outspoken conservative whose 365-day rule was dogged by cabinet scandals, gaffes and dwindling popularity ratings.
Abe shook hands with all of his ministers after briefly checking out of the hospital where he has been treated for exhaustion since a day after his abrupt September 12 announcement that he was stepping down.
"I feel extreme regret, and am sorry that I had to resign in the middle of realising my aims," Abe -- Japan's youngest leader of recent times -- told his final cabinet meeting before walking away with a bouquet of flowers.
Fukuda, a 71-year-old former oilman known for his skills at damage control, won approval as premier in a mostly party-line 338-117 vote by the lower house, where the Liberal Democratic Party holds a strong majority.
The upper chamber, which the LDP and its coalition partner New Komeito lost in July's landmark defeat, as expected picked opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa as premier. Under Japan's parliamentary rules, the lower house reconvened and installed Fukuda as prime minister.
Ozawa later cordially shook hands with Fukuda but vowed to use the opposition's new clout to bring him down.
Photo: Yasuo Fukuda (C)"Regardless of who their leader is, this is still a government of the LDP and New Komeito," Ozawa said.
"The policies of the LDP and New Komeito have twisted Japanese society, creating unfairness and inequality and widening a divide in a wide range of fields," Ozawa said.
Abe had cited Ozawa's failure to continue the mission backing the US-led "war on terror" as a reason for resigning, although he later said he quit for health reasons.
The United States and other allies have called on Japan to extend the mission, which has been unpopular in a country that has been officially pacifist since World War II.
"I don't think Fukuda's cabinet can last long with a divided parliament. Snap elections will be inevitable, probably next spring," said Jiro Yamaguchi, professor of politics at Hokkaido University.
Fukuda has pledged to regain support in part by easing the pain of rural areas that feel left out of the recovery in the world's second largest economy and to take a humble view on wartime history, a frequent source of friction with China and South Korea.
China congratulated Fukuda, saying it hoped with him to advance "strategic and mutually beneficial Sino-Japanese friendly relations." The White House said it "looks forward to working with him and the new Japanese government."
Nobutaka Machimura, the powerful foreign minister in Abe's last government, was brought in as Fukuda's top aide and spokesman as chief cabinet secretary.
Masahiko Komura, who like Fukuda is known for his efforts to repair ties with China, became foreign minister.
The defence ministry went to Shigeru Ishiba, who helped launch the Indian Ocean mission and an even more controversial deployment, now ended, of troops to Iraq.
But in a surprise, Fukuda kept in place two ministers who had supported conservative rival Taro Aso for the premiership.
"We made minimal changes to the cabinet because we have a parliament session at the moment and we have to resume proceedings right away," Machimura said.
Fukuda on Monday stripped Aso, a hawkish former foreign minister, of his post as number two at the LDP, raising criticism that he was returning to the factional politics which Abe and his popular predecessor Junichiro Koizumi fought against.
Fukuda said he asked Aso to join the cabinet but he declined.
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