Yasuo Fukuda

Yasuo Fukuda

Yasuo Fukuda ( Japanese 福田 康夫 , Fukuda Yasuo ; born July 16, 1936 in Setagaya-ku , Tokyo , registered in Takasaki , Gunma Prefecture ) is a former Japanese politician of the LDP . From September 2007 to September 2008 he was the 58th Prime Minister of Japan .

Fukuda is the eldest son of former Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda .

Life

Fukuda studied politics and economics at Waseda University . He then worked for a Japanese oil company for 17 years, including two years in the USA. He gained his first experience in politics when his father was Prime Minister from 1976 to 1978, first as secretary to a Sangiin MP, then as secretary to the prime minister. In this role, he participated in talks with China and the United States on the peace treaty between Japan and the People's Republic of China . In 1990 he ran after his father's withdrawal from politics in his constituency, the four-mandate constituency Gunma 3, for the Shūgiin ; Since then, he has maintained his seat in six elections, following the electoral reform since 1996 in the new single-seat constituency Gunma 4 . Fukuda belongs to the Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyūkai , the earlier faction of his father, today's Machimura faction.

In October 2000, Fukuda became cabinet secretary in the second cabinet of Yoshirō Mori (Machimura faction). He also held the post under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (Machimura faction) until May 2004, when Fukuda resigned due to a scandal over failed payments to the state pension system, in which numerous politicians from the LDP and DPJ were involved.

After Fukuda was elected party leader in September 2007 by his party against Tarō Asō ( Asō faction ), the Shūgiin elected him on September 25, 2007 against the vote of the Sangiin as the new prime minister. On September 26, 2007, Fukuda and his cabinet were formally appointed by Emperor Akihito . He stood for a more moderate foreign policy than the previous Prime Minister Abe . Among other things, he campaigned for an improvement in historically heavily strained relations with China and South Korea .

To Shugiin-2012 election Fukuda withdrew; his eldest son Tatsuo took over his constituency for the LDP .

Reign

The first phase of Fukuda's reign was marked by a vain attempt to deal with the opposition, which holds the majority in Sangiin to agree on an extension of the anti-terror law on the basis of the Japanese Navy with refueling ships in the Indian Ocean on the Operation Enduring Freedom participated would have. The mission had to end when the law expired on October 31, 2007.

In this context and in view of upcoming domestic political reforms, Fukuda had also negotiated with the chairman of the Democratic Party Ichirō Ozawa on the formation of a grand coalition, which was rejected by the Democrats.

In order to overrule the Sangiin with a two-thirds majority in the Shūgiin and to pass the anti-terror law after all, the session of the parliament was extended to January 15, 2008. The law was passed on January 11, 2008 by 340 votes to 133 in the Shūgiin. The two-thirds majority was used for the second time ever and for the first time in over 50 years.

The first months of the reign of the scandal around the former secretary of defense were overshadowed Takemasa Moriya , the representatives of the defense contractor Yamada Yoko over eight years for a total of about 15 million yen (about 95'000,00 euros) for golf and Mahjong invited by also bringing allegations against several LDP politicians. Yamada Yōkō had received excessive sums for armaments contracts in 2003 and 2004.

Domestic political blockade and low polls

After the failure of the negotiations on a possible grand coalition, the opposition is relying on a blockade of government initiatives, putting pressure on the government in the scandals over the pension and the Ministry of Defense and launching high-profile disruptive maneuvers with its majority in the Sangiin; For example, at the end of November 2007 it passed a resolution to end the air self-defense forces' deployment in Iraq. In his government statement at the opening of the 2008 session of parliament, Fukuda called on the opposition to work together: reforms are more important than reshaping the political landscape. Previously, he had repeatedly denied media speculation about possible early elections, although he warned his party that it was currently lacking the trust of voters. He said several times that he did not want to break up the Shūgiin before the G8 summit in July .

The beginning of the 2008 session was determined by the dispute over the new budget, especially about a restructuring of mineral oil and vehicle taxes. On February 29, 2008, the new budget in the Shūgiin was passed with the government majority under boycott of the opposition parties. Since the petroleum tax law was delayed by the opposition blockade in Sangiin, gasoline prices fell suddenly by about 25 yen on April 1 and rose again by the same value on May 1. For the reintroduction of the mineral oil tax, the governing coalition had to use the two-thirds majority in the Shūgiin for the second time under the anti-terror law to overrule the Sangiin.

Other important issues were food safety (due to several scandals involving contaminated frozen food imported from China) and the collision of the Aegis destroyer Atago with a fishing boat, the processing of which Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba received criticism from the opposition. In the face of public outrage over the crimes of US soldiers stationed in Okinawa , Fukuda announced that he would discuss the matter with the US government - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Tōkyō in February 2008 - and warned that the incident would strain the alliance.

In May 2008, polls showed that the Fukuda government's approval rating reached 20% after undercutting the Abe government's record lows in April before the Sangiin election defeat in summer 2007 and subsequent resignation.

On June 11, the Sangiin Fukuda expressed suspicion by 131 votes to 105, an event that had never occurred in Japan since the end of World War II. The government factions immediately requested a vote of confidence in the decisive Shūgiin, where they hold a two-thirds majority. While the opposition called for new elections, Fukuda spoke of a purely party-political maneuver in view of the hopelessness of the no-confidence vote in the Shūgiin. The reason for the advance of the Democrats was the reform of the health insurance proposed by Fukuda, as it burdens the elderly too much.

In the summer break of 2008 between the regular session of parliament and the special session in autumn ( rinji kokkai ), Fukuda reshuffled the cabinet at the beginning of August , during which the leading positions of the party were filled. Fukuda nominated his intra-party competitor Tarō Asō as LDP general secretary. In view of rising inflation and declining propensity to consume and invest, his government presented a 1.8 trillion yen (approx. 10.8 billion euros) economic stimulus program at the end of August in order to mitigate a possibly threatened economic recession in the election year 2009. Meanwhile, the dispute about the timing of the next new elections continued: While Fukuda is aiming for the completion of the full legislative period of four years, the coalition partner Kōmeitō would like an earlier election date to ensure a clear separation between the Shūgiin elections and the elections to the Tokyo Prefectural Parliament - a stronghold of Sōka Gakkai , the most important electoral base of the Kōmeitō. The polls of Fukuda's government had recovered slightly in the summer months: In August the approval rate exceeded the 30 percent mark; the rejection fell back below 60%. The LDP, which was overtaken by the Democrats for the first time in the opinion polls in May, was also able to increase its popularity slightly again.

On September 1, 2008, after less than a year in office, Yasuo Fukuda announced his resignation in a press conference called at short notice. Until the election of his successor Tarō Asō on September 24th, he remained in office.

Foreign policy activity

Fukuda's stated goal at the beginning of his term in office was to improve Sino-Japanese relations . At the end of December 2007, he made a four-day visit to the People's Republic. The return visit of President Hu Jintao in May 2008 resulted in the signing of a document containing a letter of intent to develop “strategic relationships”. No final agreement was reached on critical issues such as the demarcation of interests in the East China Sea, where gas reserves are being fought for, or on climate protection, but early solutions were promised. Annual meetings between the heads of government of both countries have been agreed for the future.

At the end of May 2008 the 4th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) took place in Yokohama. At the start of the summit, Fukuda stated that Japan wanted to significantly increase its development aid spending.

Since Fukuda's inauguration as Prime Minister, preparations for the G8 summit in Tōyako in July 2008 have been on the foreign policy agenda. He made his first visit to US President George W. Bush in November 2007. Shortly before Russian President Dmitri Anatoljewitsch Medvedev took office, he held talks with him in Moscow in May 2008. In early June, Fukuda met on a trip to Germany, Great Britain and to the FAO summit in Rome with the heads of state or government of four G8 countries, Angela Merkel , Gordon Brown , Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi . Important topics of the trip were climate protection and the global rise in food prices. He also discussed the global economic development against the background of rising oil prices with the European heads of government. After this trip he met the heads of state and government of all G8 countries except Canada before the summit.

family

Fukuda's wife Kiyoko is a granddaughter of Sakurauchi Yukio , a member of parliament and minister of finance and agriculture in the 1930s, and cousin of Seiichi Ōta , minister of agriculture in Fukuda's cabinet and a member of parliament (LDP, Koga faction) until 2009. Fukuda's sister is married to the former MP Michio Ochi (LDP, Fukuda faction), whose eldest son Takao was also a MP (LDP, Machimura faction) until 2009.

Pedigree

Sakurauchi Yukio

Sakurauchi Tatsuro

Fukuda Hiroichi

Fukuda Takeo

Hideko

Sakurauchi Yoshio

Toshiko

Fukuda Yasuo

Kiyoko

Ōta Seiichi

Fukuda Tatsuo

swell

1. ↑ 安 倍 退 陣 ・ 総 裁 選 安定 感 に 定 定 評 福田 氏 . In: Yomiuri Shimbun . September 16, 2007, archived from the original on June 9, 2008 ; Retrieved December 20, 2009 (Japanese). 
2. ↑ BBC News, May 7, 2004: Japan minister quits over scandal (en)
3. ↑ http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/hukudadaijin/070926/index_e.html
4. ↑ heute.de: Fukuda is to become the new premier of Japan  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ derStandard.at: Yasuo Fukuda elected as the new Japanese head of government
6. ↑ 福田 元 首相 、 政界 引退 を 表明 後 継 は 長 男 達夫 氏 の 見 込 み . In: Asahi Shimbun Digital. September 26, 2012, archived from the original on September 26, 2012 ; Retrieved January 1, 2013 (Japanese). 
7. ↑ http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20071116TDY02312.htm  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Kyodo News, November 26, 2007: Ishiba eyes criminal complaint over Yamada's bill-padding
9. ↑ BBC News, November 28, 2007: Japan opposition wins Iraq vote
10. ↑ Reuters, January 18, 2008: Japan PM set for new showdown in divided parliament
11. ↑ BBC News, Jan 17, 2008: Japan PM warns of party 'crisis'
12. ^ The Japan Times, January 16, 2008: Fukuda again rejects calling early election
13. ^ The Japan Times, May 19, 2008: Early election plot thickens
14. ^ Daily Yomiuri Online, March 1, 2008: Lower house OK's budget / Ruling bloc also rams through tax bills; opposition abstains  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
15. ↑ AFP, May 1, 2008: Petrol prices shoot up in Japan as tax reimposed ( Memento from July 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
16. ↑ Fukuda support rate hits record low 20%. In: Asahi Shimbun. May 3, 2008, archived from the original on May 6, 2008 ; accessed on May 3, 2008 . 
17. ↑ Japan Times, July 3, 2007: Abe approval rating hits all-time low
18. ↑ ^{a b} Results of the monthly NHK surveys ( Memento from December 1, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
19. ↑ Japan's PM gets no-confidence motion. (No longer available online.) In: CNN. June 11, 2008, formerly in the original ; accessed on June 11, 2008 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
20. ^ Upper House hits Fukuda with censure. In: The Japan Times. June 12, 2008, accessed July 8, 2008 . 
21. ↑ Fukuda's rival rises in reshuffle. In: BBC news. August 1, 2008, accessed August 29, 2008 . 
22. ↑ Report: Japan to unveil $ 16.5 billion package. In: The Associated Press. August 29, 2008, accessed August 29, 2008 . 
23. ↑ Masami Itō: Sound POLITICAL PULSE / New Komeito distancing LDP? In: The Japan Times Online. August 6, 2008, accessed August 29, 2008 . 
24. ↑ Yomiuri Shimbun, May 8, 2008: Fukuda, Hu agree to boost ties ( Memento of May 31, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
25. ↑ Yomiuri Shimbun, May 25, 2008: Fukuda to promise aid, loan package for Africa
26. ↑ Asahi Shimbun, June 2, 2008: Fukuda to call for new generation of biofuels ( Memento from June 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
27. ↑ Yasuo Fukuda family tree

Web links

Commons : Yasuo Fukuda  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files