Abe ready to quit if fuel mission cancelled

Embattled Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday he would not cling to his job if he could not extend his country's naval mission in support of US-led operations in Afghanistan, vital to Tokyo's ties with Washington.

Opposition parties, which won control of the upper house of parliament in a July election, can delay enactment of a bill to extend the mission beyond its November 1 expiry.

Abe said he would do all he could to extend the mission, but indicated that he could resign if the mission to refuel coalition ships were to end.

"I have no intention of sticking to my duties (as prime minister)," Abe told a news conference in Sydney.

Financial markets have been rattled by worries over political stability following a slew of scandals in Abe's Cabinet, and the bill to extend the Afghan mission has become the prime focus of a session of parliament starting today.

Earlier yesterday, Tadamori Oshima, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker in charge of parliamentary affairs, told broadcaster NHK the party was considering submitting a new bill to extend the law in a bid to win the support of the main opposition Democratic Party.

Abe said he wanted to meet soon with Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa to discuss the naval mission.

Ozawa has said he opposes the refuelling mission because the US-led operations do not have the direct imprimatur of the United Nations.

"We will not make a groundless compromise," NHK quoted the Democratic Party's No 2, Yukio Hatoyama, as saying. "If he says he is staking his job, all we can do is ask him to resign."

In a recent public opinion poll, 53 percent of respondents were against extending the Afghan mission, while 35 percent supported it.

Agencies

(China Daily 09/10/2007 page6)