Abe ready to quit if fuel mission cancelled

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 Abe ready to quit if fuel mission cancelled

Updated: 2007-09-10 06:55

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)

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