Prime Minister Naoto Kan, in his policy speech before the Diet on Monday, expressed his determination to carry out unified reform of the social security and the tax system, which would include raising the consumption tax, and "opening the nation" in the 21st century through large-scale trade liberalization.
He said his Cabinet will announce its basic policy directions on these issues by June and called on opposition forces to positively join discussions with the ruling Democratic Party of Japan to form a consensus. By making the call, Mr. Kan, whose Cabinet is suffering from an approval rate of only around 30 percent, apparently intends to counter moves by opposition forces, which control the Upper House and are stepping up their attacks on the Kan administration.
Mr. Kan mentioned "opening the nation" and trade liberalization following his opening remarks. Noting that the opening of Japan through trade and investment liberalization and freer movement of human resources would enable Japan to share in global economic prosperity, he said that Japan will speed up or launch talks on free trade agreements with Australia, South Korea, the European Union and Mongolia, and will decide by June whether to take part in full negotiations to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a regional free trade zone agreement pushed by the United States and eight other countries.