The official campaign for the House of Representatives by-election in Hokkaido's No. 5 constituency started on October 12th and Chairperson Yuriko Koike of the LDP's General Council and the former PM Shinzo Abe campaigned for the LDP's candidate Nobutaka Machimura in Sapporo, Hokkaido. In their speeches they severely criticized the Japanese government's response to the collision of the Chinese fishing boat with a Japanese Maritime Safety Agency's patrol-boat off the Senkaku Islands. We have already another critical issue, the Futenma issue, in which negotiations over the relocation of the US Air Forces' bases in Okinawa are deadlocked. This allowed China to take advantage of the fishing boat incident. With this situation in mind, Chairperson Koike criticized the Kan government for aggravating the issue of the Senkaku Islands, whose territorial integrity had not been in question previously. She expressed the firm belief that unless the Liberal Democratic Party - with its track record of firm and credible approach to diplomacy and security - regains its political power as soon as possible, Japan's position as a sovereign state will be compromised. She urged the audience to support the LDP and its candidates. Former PM Abe questioned the posture of the DPJ Administration, which allowed the prosecution to assume responsibility for releasing the Chinese captain of the fishing boat. Mr Abe said it was the prime minister's responsibility to protect the lives of its citizens and anyone failing that should stand down. *The by-election for the House of Representatives in Hokkaido's No. 5 constituency is to fill a seat brought vacant by the resignation of House of Representatives member Chiyomi Kobayashi of Democratic Party of Japan over an election campaign funding scandal involving the Hokkaido Teachers Union. The by-election was officially announced on the October 12 with polling day on October 24th.   |
