Tokyo, 14 Dec (Xinhua) -- The "black gold" scandal of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been fermenting recently. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida replaced four cabinet ministers and five cabinet deputy ministers on the 14th, and three important figures at the top of the Liberal Democratic Party also announced their resignations on the same day.
Analysts pointed out that there are many factions in the Liberal Democratic Party, and the main ones affected by the scandal are the **faction, and the ** and the Liberal Democratic Party ** who have been removed and resigned are all from this faction, and Kishida's move to remove the cabinet ** is intended to cut off the ** faction. However, since other factions, including the Kishida faction, are also involved in related issues, Kishida's "survival with broken arms" may not necessarily be able to ensure that he can survive the crisis smoothly.
On December 13, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo, Japan. Xinhua News Agency (pool**, photo by Frank Robbichon).
The "black gold" chain emerges.
In Japan, politicians often raise money through so-called "political funding parties", in which they hold events such as lectures and New Year's parties to attract supporters, and supporters donate money to politicians in the form of "party tickets". The "black gold" scandal exposed by the Liberal Democratic Party is related to this.
In mid-November, Japan** began to report that after receiving a report that five factions of the Liberal Democratic Party had failed to record the income of "political fund parties" in the report on the income and expenditure of political funds as required, the Special Investigation Department of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office began to investigate the factions involved on suspicion of violating the "Political Funds Regulation Law". As the incident continues to ferment, a hidden chain of "black gold" emerges.
Originally, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) factions would set up their own "party ticket" sales tasks for their members of the Diet, and if they exceeded the quota, the excess would be returned to the members. The factions and parliamentarians involved did not record these "kickbacks" in their respective reports on the receipts and expenditures of political funds, and the money became unregulated secret funds.
Among the factions involved, the "Qinghe Policy Research Society" (i.e., the ** faction) led by former Prime Minister ** Jinzo has the biggest problem. With 99 members of the Diet, it is the largest faction in the LDP, occupying many important positions in the LDP's top leadership, such as the second person in the cabinet and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno. According to reports, the amount of "kickbacks" in question in the past five years has been as high as 500 million yen (about 25.19 million yuan), and the number of lawmakers involved is as high as dozens of people, including Matsuno and other important figures.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (center) walks past Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno (right) after a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo, Japan, on December 13. Xinhua News Agency (pool**, photo by Frank Robbichon).
Given the seriousness of the scandal, some in Japan** have compared it to Japan's biggest post-war corruption incident, the 1988 Likulut Incident. Former Japanese Foreign Minister Senior ** Sun Qixiang pointed out that the Liberal Democratic Party has long claimed to carry out political reforms, but its power-for-money practice has not improved, but has a tendency to intensify, and this scandal is only the tip of the iceberg.
Kishida "survived with a broken arm".
In the face of questioning by the opposition parties and **, the LDP lawmakers involved often avoided answering on the grounds that the prosecution was investigating, etc., causing strong dissatisfaction. Among them, Matsuno, as the chief spokesman of the cabinet, has repeatedly refused to explain his political funding issues at press conferences and in parliamentary defenses. The opposition parties submitted motions of no confidence in Matsuno and the Kishida cabinet in the Diet on the 12th and 13th, respectively, but both were rejected by the ruling coalition.
Kishida has also taken a number of measures to stop losses, including withdrawing from the "Koikekai" (also known as Kishida faction) of the faction he leads, and asking each faction to suspend the holding of "political funding parties", but these moves have failed to restore his declining approval ratings.
According to the latest poll results released by the Japan Broadcasting Association on the 11th, the approval rating of the Kishida cabinet fell by 6 percentage points from November to 23%, which not only hit a new low since the establishment of the Kishida cabinet, but also the lowest record since the Liberal Democratic Party returned to power in December 2012. The LDP's approval rating also fell below 30% for the first time since returning to power, falling to 295%。Eighty-one percent of respondents believe stricter rules on political funding should be enacted.
In order to restore the trust of the people, Kishida adopted the method of "surviving with a broken arm", abandoning the **internal faction**, and replacing 4 cabinet ministers, including Matsuno, and 5 vice ministers on the 14th. The four cabinet replacements are all politicians from other LDP factions or non-factions who have served as cabinet officials. In addition, within the Liberal Democratic Party, Hikaru Hagiuda, the chairman of the government affairs investigation committee from the ** faction.
1. Takeshi Takagi, chairman of the Diet Countermeasures Committee, and Hiroshi Seko, secretary general of the House of Councillors, also formally submitted their resignations on the 14th. According to reports, Kishida, as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, will adjust the party's top personnel arrangements in the near future.
The prospects for governance are worrisome.
Kishida hopes to "survive with a broken arm", but it is difficult to say whether he will be able to achieve his goal. Although the scandal is currently mainly affecting the ** faction, there are also problems with many other factions of the LDP. With the deepening of the prosecution's investigation and reporting, it cannot be ruled out that the removal of the first person will also be involved in the scandal.
At the same time, the Kishida faction is also one of the factions involved. According to reports, the Kishida faction's income from the "political fund party" recorded in the report on the income and expenditure of political funds in the past five years has been tens of millions less than the actual income. It is expected that the Kishida faction will also be investigated in the future, and Kishida, who has been the chairman of the faction for a long time, may not be able to get out of the way.
As the support of the cabinet and the Liberal Democratic Party continues to hit new lows, Kishida's intra-party cohesion is also weakening. According to reports, Kishida originally intended to ask Yasuichi Hamada, a non-factional member of the party and former defense minister, to take over the post of chief cabinet secretary, but he refused, so he could only let the No. 2 person in the Kishida faction, former foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, be appointed in danger. According to Japanese media, the Kishida cabinet has become a "mud boat", and many people in the Liberal Democratic Party are reluctant to "get on board".
This is Yoshimasa Hayashi (second from left) photographed at the closing ceremony of the Diet in Tokyo, Japan, on December 13. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Wuyong.
Kishida's term as president of the Liberal Democratic Party will end in September next year, and the term of the House of Representatives of the current Diet has also passed the halfway point.
Analysts believe that although the Kishida regime has been hit hard by this scandal, Kishida can "hold on" in the short term because the opposition party is still weak and there is no strong voice in the LDP that calls for Kishida. However, Professor Emeritus of Yamaguchi University in Japan, Hiroshi Tsuyoshi believes that as the prosecution's investigation deepens, it is not impossible for the Kishida cabinet to fall once the scandal develops into a criminal case.