The Yomiuri Shimbun
Yuriko Koike talks to reporters Friday.
Despite the resolution Friday of a feud over who should be named the next administrative vice defense minister, the issue has further rocked the troubled administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Some government officials have blamed Defense Minister Yuriko Koike for her efforts to bulldoze through a personnel change by directly negotiating with the prime minister and sidelining a Cabinet panel set up to discuss personnel affairs, while others have criticized outgoing Administrative Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya for resisting the minister's decision.
Moriya will now be replaced by Kohei Masuda, who currently heads the Personnel and Education Bureau.
Either way, the lingering confusion has raised doubts about Abe's ability to control his Cabinet members.
Some government and ruling party officials believe Koike's decision to withdraw her plan to select the new administrative vice minister is aimed at ensuring she remains in the post after Abe's Cabinet reshuffle later this month.
"If she believed she was going to be replaced in the reshuffle anyway, she would have pressed on with her demands," one official said.
However, another argued: "The decision to postpone naming a replacement [until after the Cabinet reshuffle] was based on the premise that Ms. Koike would stay on in the post. But with her role in all this confusion it's not clear if she'll be staying on."
Even if Koike remains in the post, it is possible tensions between her and senior Defense Ministry officials would hamper the progress of key government policies, including extending the Antiterrorism Law, which is expected to be the main focus of attention in the extraordinary Diet session in the autumn, as well as coping with the realignment of U.S. forces stationed in Japan.
The row also has tarnished Abe's image as a leader.
Koike told Abe she had decided to promote Tetsuya Nishikawa, head of the Defense Ministry secretariat, to replace Moriya. Nishikawa is a former National Police Agency official.
Abe said repeatedly such a change should be decided by the Cabinet panel, but he was unable to put the matter to rest. His ambiguity, and Koike's persistence, has prompted many in government to speculate that he actually agreed with her decision.
===
Mixed results
However, some observers note that although the confusion appears to have damaged Abe, it has rejuvenated top ministry officials.
While a number of government officials have voiced concern over how the row will impact the handling of a range of important tasks confronting the ministry in the near future, others have welcomed Moriya's departure, arguing personnel management decisions had been distorted as he had been in the post for more than four years.
Masuda has served as head of ministry planning, defense policy and other key divisions within the Defense Policy Bureau.
As Masuda joined the ministry's predecessor, the Defense Agency, in 1975, while Moriya joined the agency in 1971, he was expected to take the post of administrative vice minister after one more official had succeeded Moriya.
Yet Masuda's name suddenly surfaced as a contender to directly succeed Moriya after Nishikawa and Shinshiro Yamazaki, chief of the Defense Operations Bureau, were dropped as candidates after their names became embroiled in the row. Nishikawa joined the NPA in 1972 and Yamazaki entered the agency in 1974.
Among administrative vice ministers of other ministries, those in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry and the Education, Science and Technology Ministry are currently the youngest serving.
However, they entered government in 1973, meaning Masuda will be the administrative vice minister with the least time in a central government post.
One high-ranking government official was optimistic about the change. "This problem may turn out to be to the ministry's advantage."
===
Mori blasts Koike position
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori launched a scathing attack on Koike in a TBS news program Friday for her role in the row over the selection of the administrative vice defense minister.
"Mr. Moriya had decided to step down a long time ago, yet she still decided to tell him to leave. It was like wielding a sword against a samurai who was ready to commit harakiri. I don't believe it was the right way to treat a man with a samurai spirit," he said.
(Aug. 19, 2007)
Posts
