09/09/2025

TUESDAY | SEPT 9, 2025

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(From left) Hayashi, Motegi, Koizumi, Kobayashi and Takaichi. – AFPPIC

Japan PM hopefuls prepare bids

alone will delay the BOJ’s monetary policy tightening plans. Money markets are now pricing in a roughly 20% chance of the BOJ hiking rates by the end of October, down from 46% a week ago. The expected leadership bid of the nationalistic Takaichi will also be closely watched by Japan’s powerful neighbour China. Known for conservative positions such as revising the pacifist constitution, Takaichi is a regular visitor to the Yasukuni shrine to honour Japan’s war dead, viewed by Beijing and others as a symbol of past militarism. Takaichi earlier this year also visited Taiwan where she suggested Taiwan, Japan and other partners could form a “quasi-security alliance”. “China might take a more hostile stance towards Japan, because she depicts herself as very much a hawk regarding China,” said Hall of Kanda University. – Reuters

A victory for either would mark milestones for Japan: Takaichi, 64, becoming its first female leader and Koizumi, 44, its youngest in the modern era. Neither has formally announced their candidacy but they finished second and third respectively in the last leadership contest in September last year. “All indications are that it will come down to them facing off against each other,” said Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer in Japanese studies at Kanda University of International Studies. Of most consequence for investors and Japan’s diplomatic relations would be Takaichi, who has held a number of posts including as economic security and internal affairs ministers. She stands out for her opposition to the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hikes and her calls to ramp up spending to boost the fragile economy. Investors are betting the political hiatus

LDP official close to the matter told Reuters. Japan’s yen sank and super long-term bond yields scaled record highs after Ishiba’s resignation stoked speculation that policies favoured by potential successors, such as fiscal dove Sanae Takaichi, may strain the world’s most indebted advanced economy. “The LDP is facing its worst crisis since its founding,” former foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi, 69, said yesterday as he announced his plan to stand for the leadership. “We must unite quickly to tackle our serious challenges at home and abroad and move the country forward.” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi also intends to run in the election. The frontrunners, however, are LDP veteran Takaichi and Shinjiro Koizumi, son of former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, who gained prominence as Ishiba’s farm minister tasked with trying to rein in soaring rice prices.

Hun Manet keen to rebuild trust PHNOM PENH: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet has urged newly elected Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to resolve the border conflict between the two countries swiftly. In a congratulatory message to Anutin, Manet said Cambodia and Thailand are the immediate neighbours by geography and fellow members of Asean and the nations should coexist in a peaceful environment. “I look forward to working closely with you to restore the relations between Cambodia and Thailand to normalcy, rebuild mutual trust, and transform the shared border between our two kingdoms into one of peace, cooperation, development and shared prosperity,” Manet said in a Facebook post. Anutin, 58, was sworn in as the 32nd prime minister of Thailand on Sunday after securing a parliamentary majority on Friday. Diplomatic relations between Cambodia and Thailand stalled following a border dispute that led to military clashes on July 24. A ceasefire was achieved five days later with the supports of Malaysia as Asean chair, the United States and China. About 300,000 Cambodian and Thai civilians were displaced during the tense weeks until both armed forces agreed to peace talks to address the protracted border dispute. High-ranking military leaders are holding Regional Border Committee discussions to settle issues, which could lead to permanent peace. – Bernama He instructed his Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan for most of its post war history, to hold an emergency leadership election. The party plans to hold the vote on Oct 4, an TOKYO: Ruling party lawmakers in Japan prepared their bids to replace outgoing premier Shigeru Ishiba yesterday, as financial markets recoiled on the political uncertainty and the possibility of his successors ramping up government spending. Ishiba called time on his brief tenure on Sunday, saying he was taking responsibility for bruising elections that saw his ruling coalition lose its majority in both houses of parliament amid voter anger over rising living costs. o Liberal Democratic Party vote likely on Oct 4

Thaksin returns from overseas ahead of court verdict BANGKOK: Thailand’s influential former premier Thaksin Shinawatra arrived back in Thailand yesterday, his political party said, a day before a Supreme Court verdict that could potentially send the tycoon to prison. where he spent the bulk of his 15 years in self imposed exile to avoid jail, the Bhumjaithai party’s Anutin Charnvirakul was elected Thailand’s new prime minister after trouncing the candidate of the once dominant Pheu Thai in a parliamentary vote. year by the king and he was released on parole in February 2024 after six months of being detained in hospital. He has since maintained a high profile as the driving force behind Pheu Thai and the former government.

Thaksin left Thailand unannounced on Thursday, prompting frenzied speculation he had fled into exile to avoid possible jail amid a scramble for power. On Friday, the government led by the Pheu Thai party he backs fell after it lost a vote in parliament to a rival party. “He has already arrived,” Pheu Thai official Chayika Wongnapachant said in a text message to Reuters. Reuters had earlier published a picture of a smiling Thaksin, 76, exiting the private terminal of Bangkok’s Don Meuang airport. While Thaksin was in Dubai on Friday,

The looming verdict is the latest in a succession of tests for Thaksin and the Shinawatra political dynasty, whose once unstoppable populist party Pheu Thai has experienced a stunning fall from grace of late, with its political clout weakening and public support plummeting. Thaksin was dealt a major blow on Aug 29 when a court dismissed his daughter and protege Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office, the sixth prime minister from or backed by the Shinawatra family to be removed by the military or judiciary. – Reuters. The president said his priority now is to hold culprits accountable and repair the system, as Malacanang prepares to issue an executive order creating an independent commission to investigate alleged anomalies in flood control projects. Marcos also highlighted the recently launched “Sumbong sa Pangulo” (Report to the President) website, which has so far received over 12,000 complaints covering various infrastructure projects. He described the platform as “very effective” in giving the public a direct channel to report wrongdoing. – Bernama

Billionaire Thaksin, who has loomed large over Thai politics for a quarter of a century, could be imprisoned if judges decide that the six months he spent at a VIP wing of a hospital in 2023 instead of jail does not count as time served. He was in jail for only a few hours before being transferred to the hospital on medical grounds following his return to serve an eight-year sentence for conflicts of interest and abuse of power while premier from 2001 2006. Thaksin’s sentence was commuted to a diverted for luxury items. “How can you do this to people who are working every day of their lives?” Marcos asked, noting how some perceived corrupt individuals flaunted luxuries that may have been purchased using public funds. Still, he said he has never once regretted running for president despite the enormity of the problem, particularly corruption. “No. Not for one moment,” he said. “Because I’m given the opportunity, the privilege to actually do something. All of the things I complained about all my life, now I can do something about it.”

Marcos laments decades-old corruption MANILA: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr decried the “deeply rotten” corruption in public infrastructure projects but said he has no regrets about becoming chief executive as it gives him the chance to fix systemic ills.

In his latest podcast released on Sunday, Marcos said revelations of long-running anomalies have kept him awake at night, describing them as “kalawang at bulok” (rust and rot) that have plagued projects for decades. “It did not happen overnight. This happened over many decades,” he said, adding that he was “very upset” at how ordinary Filipinos were short-changed while public funds were