No plans to dissolve lower house despite backlash to record defense spending, other controversies: Japanese PM-Xinhua

No plans to dissolve lower house despite backlash to record defense spending, other controversies: Japanese PM

Source: Xinhua| 2023-03-29 18:45:30|Editor: huaxia

TOKYO, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday said he has no plans in the near future to dissolve the lower house of parliament and call a snap election.

"I'm not considering now dissolving the lower house for a snap election," Kishida told a parliamentary committee meeting.

Kishida said his priorities are dealing with important matters and making sure decisions made by the government are accountable.

His remarks were in response to a question by an opposition party member about dissolving the lower chamber of Japan's bicameral party.

Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition control both the more powerful lower and upper chamber.

Japan's prime minister also said in response to the question that there were urgent tasks that needed to be attended to including policies to support children and child-rearing amid the country's drastically low birthrate, as well as issues related to changing energy policies.

In addition, Kishida also said that bolstering Japan's defense capabilities was a pressing matter that also took precedence over the possibility of calling a snap election.

Kishida's comments on defense came a day after parliament enacted a record 114.38 trillion yen (866.46 billion U.S. dollar) budget for fiscal 2023.

Along with a record allocation for social welfare costs to deal with Japan's rapidly aging society, the budget also makes provisions for the country's highest-ever defense spending outlays, which has sparked a harsh backlash from the public, opposition parties and constitutional experts.

The government's budget includes a record 6.82 trillion yen (51.66 billion dollars) in defense spending, a 20 percent hike and the highest on record, for the first year of a controversial and unprecedented five-year spending plan.

This is part of the government's plans to beef up the country's defensive capabilities, with the broader five-year plan drawing heavy criticism from the public, opposition parties and scholars, in no small part due to the plan running contrary to Japan's constitutionally-bound pacifist defense posture.

Non-tax revenue will be used to fund the government's defense outlays, which will double from the county's long-held cap of spending equaling roughly 1 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) to around 2 percent of the GDP in the year starting April 2027, according to the budget.

From fiscal 2024 or later, meanwhile, a publicly-denounced hike in corporate and income tax, as well as an increase in tax on some consumer products, will be used to finance Japan's contentious broader defense spending plans.

Reserve funds, typically used for emergencies and not needing parliamentary approval, will also be used to fund part of the defense outlays, adding to the controversies.

Opposition party lawmakers have quizzed the Japanese leader on exactly why the war-renouncing nation needs to drastically build up its defenses and pay for it by hiking taxes.

To fund the state budget, the government will issue 35.62 trillion yen (269.83 billion U.S. dollars) in bonds, adding to Japan's national debt, which is in utter dire straits at more than double the size of its economy and the worst among industrialized countries.

Facing a choppy public support rate due to a series of ministerial gaffes and firings, the ruling LDP's connections to a shady religious organization, and the staunch opposition from all sides to the exponential rise in defense spending, the result of local elections in April will be a closely watched barometer of voter confidence in Kishida's administration.

Political watchers here have said the outcome of the elections could inform the timing of Kishida dissolving the lower house and calling for a general election.

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