The world is becoming more and more “divided” and “the Ukraine of today could foreshadow the East Asia of tomorrow”, declared Friday the new Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba during his first general policy speech, calling also the low birth rate of “silent emergency”.
“The Ukraine of today could foreshadow the East Asia of tomorrow. Why has deterrence not worked in Ukraine?” asked Mr. Ishiba in a veiled allusion to the fears of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
“If we also take into account the situation in the Middle East, the international community is becoming more and more divided and prone to confrontation,” he added.
Relations between Japan and China have deteriorated in recent years as Beijing asserted its military presence around disputed territories in the region and Tokyo strengthened its security ties with the United States and its allies.
Mr. Ishiba supports the creation of a regional military alliance modeled on NATO and said Tuesday that Japan’s security had “never been under greater threat since the end of World War II.”
– Minimum wage –
At the national level, Mr. Ishiba also wants to increase wages in Japan thanks to a new monetary recovery program and support for local authorities and low-income households.
His predecessor Fumio Kishida was unpopular with voters due to a series of scandals and inflation that penalized consumption in the world’s fourth-largest economy.
During this decade, the new head of government said he wanted to increase the average national minimum wage to 1,500 yen (9.30 euros) per hour, an increase of almost 43% compared to the current wage of 1,050 yen. .
“We will achieve wage increases that exceed price increases, boosting individual productivity and adding value,” he said.
All of Mr. Ishiba’s statements at this stage are “probably in view of the next general elections” which he has indicated he wants to call on October 27, commented Takahide Kiuchi, in a note from the Nomura research institute , before the speech.
“The Ishiba administration’s first priority is to win these elections and consolidate its power base,” he stressed.
Even if his party remains the big favorite in the election, Shigeru Ishiba’s government only has 51% support among the Japanese population, according to a poll published Wednesday by the daily Nikkei, well below the score of the first government of his predecessor Fumio Kishida debuts at the end of 2021.
– Imperial succession –
Japan, like many industrialized countries, also faces a looming demographic crisis, with an aging population and a stubbornly low birth rate. According to the World Bank, the country has the oldest population in the world after Monaco.
Last year, its birth rate stood at 1.2, well below the 2.1 children needed to maintain population levels.
On Friday, Mr Ishiba called the birth rate situation a “silent emergency”, adding that the government would promote measures to support families, such as flexible working hours.
Mr. Ishiba also spoke about the lack of eligible male heirs to the imperial throne. Due to current succession rules, the imperial family is facing extinction, with only one young heir: Emperor Naruhito’s 18-year-old nephew Prince Hisahito.
The emperor’s daughter, Princess Aiko, 22, is barred from the throne under the Imperial Household Law, in force since 1947.
Women must leave the family when marrying a commoner, as was the case in 2021, when former Princess Mako Komuro, Naruhito’s niece, married a college classmate.
In May, lawmakers began discussing the possibility of relaxing strict succession rules, and a recent Kyodo poll found that 90 percent of the population supported open succession to women.
“The stability of the royal succession is extremely important. Stabilizing the number of members of the imperial family is a particularly pressing issue,” Mr Ishiba said, calling for a debate on the issue.
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