Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Thursday he does not think the resignation of U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin will change U.S. economic policy or U.S.-Japan relations.
Rubin and his deputy and successor, Lawrence Summers, are "different people" in terms of career backgrounds but "were sharing roles neatly," Miyazawa told reporters. "Will policy change? I do not think so."
But he said he is sorry about Rubin's resignation because he knows Rubin very well. When they met alone in Washington two weeks ago, Rubin hinted at his resignation by saying he was exhausted from shuttling between Washington and New York every week, Miyazawa said.
About the new deputy Treasury secretary to be nominated, Stuart Eizenstat, an undersecretary at the State Department, Miyazawa said, "I have met him before and he is a capable person."