Keidanren to push free trade deals, improved China ties in 2013
Asahi Shimbun | January 02, 2013
Keidanren to push free trade deals, improved China ties in 2013
By MINORU NAGATA/ Staff Writer
The nation’s largest business organization, Keidanren, plans to lead the way for the government to conclude free trade agreements and also help restore relations with China, its chairman said, as part of his ambitious goals for 2013.
Hiromasa Yonekura told The Asahi Shimbun that he will focus on private-sector diplomacy this year, probably his last full one as chief of Keidanren.
He said Japan must sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade arrangement and other agreements as soon as possible to revitalize its economy.
“The TPP will probably be concluded in 2013,” Yonekura, who is also chairman of Sumitomo Chemical Co., said in a recent interview. “Japan must join the negotiations at an early date to take the lead.”
He also listed as priorities an economic partnership agreement with the European Union, a free trade agreement with China and South Korea, and an economic partnership agreement covering 16 Asia-Pacific countries.
Yonekura said it is also important to improve and rebuild economic relations with China, which have worsened due to a dispute over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
He said he believes that new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is setting the stage for a change for the better.
“Abe often made nationalistic remarks before the Lower House election, but he has made realistic judgments since he took office,” he said.
Yonekura said Japan-China ties have shown signs of a turnaround, which he hopes will gain momentum after new Chinese Communist Party leaders take up top government posts at the National People’s Congress this spring.
Yonekura said he has been encouraged by energy and other policies proposed by Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party because they are similar to those advocated by Keidanren.
Abe has said he plans to review the policy of the previous Democratic Party of Japan government to halt all nuclear reactors by the 2030s, which Keidanren strongly opposes. The business organization has argued that eliminating all nuclear power could mean higher electricity costs and create doubts about the stability of the nation’s power supply.
Yonekura said Japan must think about nuclear power “more rationally and scientifically, not emotionally,” as it wrestles with safety concerns in restarting 48 of its 50 nuclear reactors.
“If you seek perfect safety, you cannot even have cars or trains,” he said. “I understand people seek as much safety as possible, but you also have to consider the price you have to pay for it.”
He said resource-poor Japan will fall into an “abnormal situation” by suffering trade deficits if it depends on fossil fuel imports to help make up the difference if the nuclear reactors are kept offline.
“We will deal with politics depending on policies,” Yonekura said. “We will not be on friendly terms with the government simply because it is led by the LDP, not the DPJ.”
He said Keidanren will support the government if it pursues policies backed by businesses but ask the government to adopt its own proposals if it does not.
Yonekura was appointed Keidanren chairman in May 2010. The chief of Keidanren customarily serves two two-year terms.
By MINORU NAGATA/ Staff Writer
