Oct. 24 (UPI) — Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivered her first policy speech to the parliament Friday, focusing on economic security and boosting defense spending.
Takaichi, 64, became prime minister on Tuesday and is the first woman to lead Japan. She is the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, which is conservative and nationalist.
She plans to pursue aggressive fiscal spending to revitalize Japan’s economy and boost defense spending to address security challenges, she said in her speech Friday, Kyodo reported.
“Wage growth outpacing inflation is necessary, but simply leaving the burden to business will only make it harder for them,” The Japan Times reported Takaichi said. She said her government will soon create an economic stimulus package backed by a supplementary budget.
Takaichi said her administration will tackle rising costs of living as a “top priority,” and said she will raise defense spending to 2% of the gross domestic product by March, two years ahead of target.
Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers policy speech during the Lower House’s plenary session at the National Diet in Tokyo on on Friday. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI
“I will turn (people’s) anxieties about the present and future into hope and build a strong economy,” Takaichi said. “We need to proactively promote the fundamental strengthening of our nation’s defense capabilities” to deal with “various changes in the security environment,” Takaichi said.
She said she will abolish the provisional gasoline tax rate, which was a campaign promise, to help reduce inflation. The prime minister said she would do it during the current session, which goes through Dec. 17. That tax has been in place since 1974.
Lifting the nontaxable income level from $6,700 to $10,473 this year is another plan she put forward to boost the economy.
Addressing another campaign promise, she said the government will begin discussions on creating a second capital to be a backup in a crisis. This was a pet project of the JIP, the far right political party with which she and the LDP formed a coalition. Called the Osaka Metropolis Plan, its goal is to reduce the concentration of power in Tokyo, Japan Wire said.
