New Leader Wants to Make Japan a Force

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, chats with Foreign Minister Taro Aso prior to the opening of a Parliament session in Tokyo Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006. Abe, the new outspoken nationalist prime minister, is soaring in public opinion polls with support ratings for his Cabinet as high as 71 percent, according to surveys released Thursday by four major newspapers. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara) (Katsumi Kasahara - AP)

TOKYO -- Japan's new nationalist prime minister pledged Friday to make his country a decisive force on the international stage and push for a reduction of tensions with China and South Korea.

In his first speech before parliament since winning the premiership in a landslide vote Tuesday, Shinzo Abe also vowed to move ahead with revising the pacifist constitution and exploring a collective defense system with the United States.

Abe has struck a chord with the public by campaigning on a populist, nationalist agenda: He wants a more confident Japan that can distance itself from post-World War II guilt by amending the constitution and giving the military a bigger international profile.

"I believe it's entirely possible to create a country brimming with attractiveness and vigor, while maintaining the noble virtues of the Japanese people," he said. "I aim for a country that is trusted, revered and loved by the world and asserts its leadership."

Abe's Liberal Democratic Party has long campaigned to replace the pacifist constitution drafted by U.S. forces after World War II to revise phrasing that renounces the country's right to offensive action and bans maintaining a military for warfare.

John C. Campbell, professor of political science at the University of Michigan, said Abe's rhetoric seemed out of step with modern Japan and far to the right of most of the people.

"There's no question in my mind that that kind of language echoes themes you can find in standard mainstream discourse in prewar Japan," he said in Tokyo.

Abe also promised to push for better relations with China and South Korea. Relations between Tokyo and its neighbors have deteriorated in recent years in part because of Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni war shrine, which critics consider a glorification of wartime militarism.

While Abe supports the shrine, he has taken the lead in recent weeks in pushing for meetings with South Korea and Chinese leaders to repair ties.

Tokyo announced on Thursday that Abe and South Korea's president have agreed to meet soon, and his aides are trying to arrange a similar meeting with China's leader. News reports on Friday said a summit with South Korea could come as soon as next week.

"China and South Korea are important neighbors," Abe said. "Strengthening relationships of trust with the two countries is vital to Asia and to international society, and I believe it is important to communicate candidly and in a forward-looking way."

But he reiterated his hardline stance against North Korea, refusing to establish diplomatic ties with it until its past abductions of Japanese citizens are resolved. Japan says the North has not provided enough information, and believes that more Japanese were taken than the North has acknowledged.