http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/673683/Hard-stance-possible-from-reckless-Noda-cabinet.aspx
On Tuesday, former Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda became the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan and the 95th prime minister of his country, the sixth in the past five years. What will Noda bring to the DPJ, Japan and even the world?

First of all, the appointment of Noda will quicken the arrival of a new generation of leaders within the DPJ. The actual control of the DPJ's "troika" of former leaders, Ichiro Ozawa, Yukio Hatoyama and Naoto Kan, will be further weakened.

Noda is about to pick his cabinet, and is expected to include more of the younger generation of politicians. Most of these young politicians, full of vigor and ambitions, are pushing for Japan to become a "normal" country militarily.

Noda has been persistently stressing that a basic law for security and a law for emergency situations should be established. So his election could make all these assumptions reality. In addition to the prominent role of Japan's Self-Defense Forces after the earthquake in March, there are fears that Japan will further strengthen its security and military capabilities.

And as politicians like Noda come into power, the forces inside the DPJ that advocate balanced diplomacy between the US and China will be marginalized.

Graduated from the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, Noda regards himself as conservative and has a tough diplomatic style, believing that the "US-Japan alliance" is the foundation of Japanese diplomacy.

Noda consistently claims that all those memorized in the Yasukuni Shrine are not war criminals, and that the extent of the Nanjing Massacre is exaggerated, and downplays the brutality of Japanese actions.  

He is also critical about the self-critical view of history within Japan. He once protested to former Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan that China has actually "occupied" the Nansha Islands and is not qualified to make "irresponsible remarks" about Japan's occupation of "Okinotorishima island," which China insists is a rock, not an island.

Therefore, Noda's rise will inevitably deepen the alliance between Japan and the US. But whether new challenges in Sino-Japanese relationship will appear depend on the two countries' response to sensitive issues.

As a matter of fact, the rebuilding of Japan after the earthquake will produce huge business opportunities. Japan needs surplus capital from China and meanwhile China is happy to see the entry of many Japanese high-end technology enterprises into China.

Whether Noda will take a new tough stand on foreign policy probably depends on the focus of Noda's cabinet. Even though Noda was a rival of former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, they both graduated from the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management and are both the heads of organizations of young politicians in the DPJ.

They often act in unison. As Noda said in a press conference Sunday, "In my decades-long political career, when Maehara went in action, I would support him, and vice versa. We are brothers and have been helping each other. But I didn't expect we could be opponents today."
 
In the second round of the leadership election on Monday, almost all the members of Maehara's side voted for Noda. It is likely that Noda will make Maehara foreign minister again.

Noda is not only familiar with diplomacy and defense, but also an expert on the economy.

His imperative is to restrain the rising yen. He once tried to contain the appreciation of yen through government intervention in the foreign exchange market.

Therefore, the election of Noda as the prime minister implies big moves in the exchange rate market of the yen. As for his foreign policy, we'll have to wait and see.

The author is director of the Tokyo-based Asia-Pacific Political and Economic Research Center.