Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, leader of Japan’s nascent opposition Party of Hope, said Monday that she’s unsure whether President Donald Trump’s administration is stable even as she affirmed the importance of the U.
Koike, 65, said in an interview that Trump’s White House may be unstable because of the many changes in personnel since the president took office in January. Her comments stand in contrast to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has courted Trump in an attempt to bolster ties between the two allies.
"I am not yet sure whether the Trump administration is stable," Koike said on Monday in Tokyo. "There are extremely dynamic personnel changes in the main White House posts. Alongside the American people, I want to look carefully to see what kind of administration this will be."
She added, however, that she has no argument that the basis of Japan’s security is the alliance with the U. "I have no differences with the Liberal Democratic Party or the Abe administration in terms of diplomacy and national security," she said referring to Abe’s ruling party.
Read why Abe is gambling on an early election
A slew of senior staff members have been fired or resigned from the White House since Trump took office. Notable departures include chief strategist Steve Bannon in August and communications director Anthony Scaramucci a month earlier after only 11 days in the job.
At the weekend, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker -- a Republican with close ties to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson -- called the White House an “adult day care center” and told the New York Times the president’s threats against North Korea could set the U. “on the path to World War III.”
While Koike expresses concern about Trump’s administration, Abe has been careful to praise the president. The two leaders have spoken regularly on the phone as tensions with North Korea escalate, and may play golf once more when Trump comes to Japan for planned visit next month. The Japanese prime minister turned on the charm on a visit to the U. before Trump’s inauguration, presenting the then-nominee with a Japan-made golf club.
China Concerns
Koike, a former defense minister known for her patriotic views, also said that one of her concerns for the U.-Japan alliance was what she sees as a rapprochement between Washington and Beijing on issues from climate change to North Korea.
"There is a positive side to this, but it’s very unclear what our country’s position will be in this case," she said. "It’s not a bad thing for the leaders of the U. and Japan to establish a close connection, but we have to look at what changes the U. administration will undergo, and make sure Japan’s presence remains firm. I think there are aspects that need to be made stronger."
The interview came hours after a poll indicated that her bid to upset Abe’s ruling party in a general election less than two weeks away may be losing steam.
Thirteen percent of respondents to a Yomiuri survey said they’d vote for her party in the proportional representation section of the Oct. 22 lower house election, down from 19 percent about a week ago. Support for Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party fell slightly to 32 percent in the telephone poll of 1,099 eligible voters. Twenty-seven percent said they were still undecided.
Koike told Bloomberg that the emergence last week of the new left-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan may have been a reason for her party’s fall in the polls. She also said she suspected Abe called the election to hide from a raft of scandals that have hurt the premier.
The Yomiuri poll is good news for Abe, who is seeking a fresh mandate ahead of an LDP leadership vote next year that could put him in line to become Japan’s longest-serving prime minister. Koike had launched Hope last month in a surprise move just hours before Abe said he’d call an election, rallying a weakened opposition in a race that had been widely seen as relatively comfortable for the premier.
Will Koike Run?
In debates with party leaders at the weekend, Koike, pushed her “Yurinomics” economic platform, saying the prime minster hadn’t delivered on promised reforms. She also repeatedly denied she would quit her governor’s post to run in the election and give her a chance of becoming prime minister. She has to decide by Tuesday, when the election campaign formally opens. In Monday’s interview she said she wasn’t planning any surprises.
Read more about the parties’ pledges
In the Yomiuri poll, 71 percent of respondents said Koike should stay in her current role, with just 7 percent saying she should stand in the general election. She hasn’t said who she would support as prime minister.
Only a few issues clearly separate Koike’s Hope party and Abe’s LDP. She wants the nation to ditch atomic power by 2030, while the prime minister has pledged to raise the nuclear share of the nation’ energy mix. Citing falling real wages, Hope has also promised to freeze Japan’s sales tax rate at 8 percent, while the ruling party has vowed to raise the levy to 10 percent in 2019 to pay for greater spending for families in areas such as education.
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