by Shingo Ito
Mon Oct 6, 4:20 AM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's new Prime Minister Taro Aso on Monday brushed aside talk of calling a snap election, vowing instead to concentrate on revitalising the ailing economy as he struggles to win over voters.
Speaking in parliament just two weeks after taking office, Aso indicated he was not minded to put his government to the test just yet, amid poll ratings which have disappointed ruling party leaders.
"Our priority is to let the supplementary budget pass. Therefore, I don't have dissolution (of parliament) in mind at this stage," Aso said.
"I presume that what people are most concerned about right now are the prospects for the economy," he said.
Aso was speaking to a parliamentary committee which is looking at an extra 1.81 trillion yen (17 billion dollar) budget that he has proposed to help the world's second largest economy cope with rising prices.
He is also looking at additional funding to help stimulate Japan's economy, which is teetering on recession as the global financial crisis saps foreign demand for its exports.
The former foreign minister took over as premier on September 24 from Yasuo Fukuda, who resigned amid sagging popularity after raising medical costs for elderly people to ease the budget burden.
But Aso's initial poll ratings disappointed strategists in his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who hoped he could call an election quickly to contain a rising opposition, which controls one house of parliament.
The latest opinion poll by the Asahi Shimbun showed public support for the Aso cabinet has slid even further, falling to 41 percent now from 48 percent immediately after he took office.
Ominously for Aso, 40 percent of voters said they preferred a government led by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan against 34 percent who favoured the LDP, which has been in power for all but 10 months since 1955.
The liberal newspaper surveyed 1,036 eligible voters on Saturday and Sunday.
"Let's say a doctor comes to a person whose heart isn't beating well and proposes to improve his health. That won't mean anything if his heart stops," Aso explained.
"We have to do a lot of things such as cardiac massage or drip infusion," he added. "The economy is in a considerably severe situation. If we fail to take action right now, something terrible may happen."
Akira Nagatsuma, a senior opposition lawmaker who has aggressively pushed the government on social issues, went on the offensive in parliament, accusing welfare ministry officials of deliberately falsifying information about pension payments to cut costs -- a potentially criminal offence.
"If we take over, we will put an end to such cold governance," Nagatsuma said.
Elections to the lower house of parliament must be held by September next year but the opposition has stepped up demands for an early vote.
Aso has broken ranks with recent LDP premiers such as Junichiro Koizumi by supporting government spending to boost the economy, downplaying free-market reforms that the opposition charges has widened the gap between rich and poor.
A separate survey by the Nikkei business daily found 69 percent of Japan's major companies agreed that Aso's priority should be economic stimulus rather than cutting the national debt, which is the worst among rich nations.
In the parliament session, Aso also pressed for a renewal of a naval mission in the Indian Ocean providing fuel and other logistical support to the US-led "war on terror" in Afghanistan.
"Using common sense, it's impossible for me to fathom that Japan alone would withdraw in the middle of the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan," Aso said.
The opposition forced a temporary halt to the operation last year, arguing that Japan -- officially pacifist since World War II -- should not take part in "American wars."
Monday, October 6, 2008
Struggling Japan PM says no snap elections now
Burma Ruby ban starts 26 October
The phase 1 plan of implementation of "Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act of 2008" has been issued by the U.S. Customs & Border Protection.
After the implementation of the ban, no jadeite and rubies of Myanmar origin can be imported into the United States. The ban includes all Burmese origin jadeite and rubies, even those that are taken to Thailand or elsewhere and transformed substantially.
A statement issued by the Jewelers Vigilance Alliance informed about the 30-day grace period that has been established whereby importers and exporters that may not meet all mandatory requirements can still import and export non-Burmese goods until Oct. 26.
After the implementation of the ban, a harmonized Tariff System code, issued by the customs, is to be used for all non-Burmese rubies and jadeite and jewelry containing these gemstones imported into the U.S. Phase 2 of the plan would be developed later on to support additional verification of export controls and to streamline the process chalked out in Phase 1.
For further clarification, importers and exporters can contact U.S. Customs at jade.act@cbp.dhs.gov.
Backlash From Tainted Milk Scandal Spreads to Burma
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, October 6, 2008; 9:23 AM
TOKYO, Oct. 6 -- Thanks to tainted milk, China's product-safety reputation is plumbing new depths. Even Burma -- where one of the world's most repressive and isolated military governments relies on trade with China -- has now warned its people to steer clear of all Chinese dairy products.
The generals who run Burma are sealed off from much of the world by economic sanctions, following a bloody military assault last year on Buddhist monks and democracy protesters. They increasingly depend on China for everything from military hardware to consumer goods.
Still, the Burmese government has publicized its destruction of 16 tons of Chinese baby food tainted with melamine, the industrial chemical that was mixed with milk products, leading in China to the deaths of four infants, the sickening more than 54,000 babies and a Chinese government crackdown on 22 dairy companies.
"Authorities concerned have urged the people not to consume milk and dairy products," the state-run New Light of Myanmar reported Sunday in Rangoon, the Burmese capital.
The anomaly of consumer protection in Burma points to the scale and severity of China's global public-relations disaster in the wake of what appears to have been a long-standing, industrial-scale scheme to adulterate infant formula and other milk products.
Dairy operators add melamine to milk products to increase its protein levels -- and their profits. The chemical often causes kidney stones when consumed by babies in infant formula.
A global backlash to the milk scandal continues to burp up melamine-tainted foods, from "Chocolate Pillows" sweets in Osaka, Japan, to a milkshake in Austria to White Rabbit Creamy Candies in West Hartford, Conn.
The scandal has touched some of the world's largest food companies, with Nestle, Cadbury, Mars and Kraft Foods recalling products or suspending sales. Imports of Chinese dairy products have been halted from Brunei to Burundi, Cambodia to Russia.
"China is overwhelming other countries with its ability to produce things at a cheaper price," said Yoko Tomiyama, head of the Consumers Union of Japan, where paranoia about Chinese food products is now ubiquitous. "As long as this globalized consumer system prevails, there will always be the next melamine."
Over the weekend, China announced the arrest of six more people suspected of producing and selling melamine. They were detained in northern China, where the country's milk industry in based.
Trying to contain damage from the scandal, China announced Sunday that no traces of melamine were found in a large test of milk products sold across the country. Chinese newspapers reported Monday that the tests were conducted in 27 cities on more than 600 batches of milk and that they found no melamine.
It was the second time in a week that the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has said that tests have found no contamination.
The stock price of three of China's largest dairy companies rose Monday in trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai, after government tests cleared some of their products of contamination.
Complaints by parents about sick children first surfaced last December in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province. Doctors there also issued warnings.
But the scandal did not become public until Sept. 11, when a journalist posted an item on a Chinese social Web site about the sick children. It mentioned Sanlu Dairy Co., a 50-year-old firm that health officials say covered up the complaints of worried parents.
Hundreds of police have since conducted raids on pastures, breeding farms and milk-purchasing stations in the Shijiazhuang area.
The agriculture ministry said over the weekend that it was trying to help dairy farmers whose businesses have been ruined by collapsing demand for milk. In a statement posted on its Web site, the ministry said:
"On the one hand, we must crack down on illegal behavior, but on the other hand, we must protect the interests of the dairy sector."
Special correspondent Akiko Yamamoto contributed to this report.
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