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TOKYO, Aug. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Japan's governing
Liberal Democratic Party pledged Friday in its policy platform for the upcoming
general election to resubmit Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal
privatization bills for passage in the next parliament session.
It also promised to strengthen
Japan's ties with the Untied States and take the lead in Asian diplomacy, and
said it will announce a proposal on revising the Constitution by the 50th
anniversary on Nov. 15 of the party's founding.
Koizumi, who is also LDP president, reiterated that
the largest issue of the Sept. 11 House of Representatives election is whether
the public supports postal privatization and stressed the policy will lead to a
structural reform of Japanese politics.
"I promote this postal privatization because it is a
structural reform of the administration, of state finances, of the economy,
banking and red tape, but most of all, a structural reform of politics," Koizumi
said at a press conference at LDP headquarters.
The government has said privatizing Japan Post will
help divert its huge funds of 340 trillion yen (about 3.12 trillion US
dollars)into the private sector and shift its 260,000 public servants to the
private sector while operations of new entities after the privatization would be
subjected to taxation.
Koizumi said the policy is also aimed at doing away
with the tendency of politicians -- of both governing and opposition camps -- to
represent the specific interest of postal servants who help them a lot in
campaigning for elections.
Koizumi dissolved the lower house Aug. 8 for the
general election as his bills to privatize Japan Post -- the centerpiece of his
reform drive -- were voted down in the House of Councilors,or the upper house.
Postal privatization tops the party's 120-point
platform. The pledges cover five areas -- fiscal and administrative reforms,
theeconomy, public security, measures for future generations, and Japan's role
in the world.
"The LDP will accelerate reforming Japan with postal
privatization as a breakthrough," the platform says, committing the LDP to
"realize postal privatization without fail".
The platform also says the LDP will aim for nominal
economic growth of 2 percent in fiscal 2006, as in its previous platform for the
general election in November 2003.
But it dismissed raising the income tax on corporate
employees,an idea that was recently floated by the government's Tax Commission,
and said it aims to drastically reform the tax system,including the consumption
tax, around fiscal 2007.
Koizumi said rebuilding Japan's debt-laden state
finances will be a major issue to be tackled after he leaves office in September
next year.
Koizumi has said the government will not pursue the
contentious consumption tax hike until his tenure as LDP president expires, also
in September next year. Enditem
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