Facing a double crisis at home, Suga and Modi talked about China on the phone

Source: Global Times

Affected by the political scandal, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party lost all three by-elections and re-elections for members of the Diet on the 25th. Japanese media commented on the 26th that the election is regarded as the outpost of this fall's House of Representatives election, and the election results reflect the Japanese people's dissatisfaction with the Suga government "growing day by day". In addition to the dissatisfaction caused by the political scandal, the Japanese government's anti-epidemic policy has also been criticized. According to a recent poll, 65% of the population in Japan disapproves of the government's anti-epidemic measures. The domestic problems were a mess, but the Japanese government at this time used the relevant legal basis of the Self-Defense Forces when discussing the formulation of the "sudden situation in the Taiwan Strait", which triggered criticism.

According to Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun, the House of Representatives Hokkaido District 2, the Nagano Constituency By-election of the House of Representatives and the Re-election of the Senate in the Hiroshima Constituency were voted and voted on the 25th. The Liberal Democratic and Komeito ruling coalitions are in direct confrontation with the parliamentary candidates nominated by the opposition parties. As a result, the winners of the three constituencies were all candidates nominated by the opposition parties, and the ruling party group "lost all three battles". In the House of Representatives Hokkaido District 2, former Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and LDP Rep. Takamori Yoshikawa resigned due to a bribery scandal, and the seats vacated were acquired by former Cadet Member Officinalis Matsuki Kenko. In the Nagano constituency of the Senate, former Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and Cadet Senator Yuichiro Haneda died of COVID-19, and his younger brother Jiro Haneda, a newcomer to the Cadets, defeated the LDP candidate and was elected to parliament for the first time. In the Senate Hiroshima constituency, former Liberal Democratic Party Senator Kawai was elected invalid for violating the Public Office Election Act. In the re-election, Osamu Miyaguchi, who was elected by the Cadets, also defeated the new LDP.

Kyodo News Agency said that the above election was the first parliamentary election ushered in by Suga Yoshihide after coming to power, and the election results were obviously unfavorable to the prime minister and president of the Liberal Democratic Party, Yoshihide Suga. In this election, "politics and money" has become the main point of contention, and the LDP bribery scandal has been further amplified, becoming an important reason for the overall defeat of the ruling party's candidates. In this regard, Suga Yoshihide told the media at the Prime Minister's official residence on the 26th that on the basis of modestly accepting the scrutiny and further analysis of the people, he would make earnest corrections and strengthen the reorganization of political operations in the face of the next House of Representatives election. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun commented that the defeat in the election led to a sudden tension in the Liberal Democratic Party. On June 26, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato held talks with Hiroshi Moriyama, Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Diet Countermeasures Committee, and exchanged views on three elections. On the evening of the 26th, Suga presided over a high-level meeting within the party to reaffirm the unity of the ruling party. But it is clear that there are likely voices within the LDP that there are voices of concern about Yoshihide Suga's participation in the House of Representatives elections under the rule. At the same time, the opposition parties were boosted in morale. Yukio Edano, head of the Cadet Party, said the election results reflected voters' "hope that the kimonocratic politics that don't fit the times will be stopped." He further criticized the Liberal Democratic Party and the Suga government. Yukio Edano also consulted with other opposition party leaders and party members in the hope of "overthrowing the LDP dictatorship."

Japan's "Mainichi Shimbun" said that in addition to political scandals, another factor that seriously affected the election situation was the public's dissatisfaction with the government's anti-epidemic performance. On the 26th, more than 10,000 deaths of new coronary pneumonia were recorded in Japan. With the Kansai Circle as the center, the medical supply system continues to be urgent, and the number of deaths is increasing. In Kyoto, Osaka and other places, the hospitalization rate of COVID-19 patients is less than 25%. Next, the outbreak will lead to a shortage of beds, and the number of people who cannot be hospitalized or receive the necessary treatment will be further increased. A survey result released by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 26th showed that 65% of the people in Japan did not approve of the anti-epidemic measures taken by the government. Compared with March, the disapproval rate increased by 10 percentage points, the highest value since the beginning of the epidemic.

According to a relevant Japanese source, under such circumstances, the Japanese government has considered linking it with the security of the Taiwan Strait based on the provisions of the new security law on the role of the Self-Defense Forces under various circumstances such as "important impact on the situation," "critical situation of survival," and "state of armed attack." According to some sources, during the earlier Japan-US summit meeting, Japan said that the "sudden situation" in the Taiwan Strait is equivalent to an "important impact on the situation" and even a "critical situation of survival" for Japan, suggesting that it will strengthen its direct involvement in the Taiwan issue. In a telephone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, Suga expressed "grave concern" about China's "provocative behavior" in the surrounding waters. Lu Hao, deputy director of the Comprehensive Strategic Research Office of the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with the Global Times reporter on the 26th that in the face of the epidemic crisis, there is still a market for China's domestic curbing remarks, and the Japanese government hopes to use "external troubles" to solve "internal turmoil" and divert domestic attention.