Abe vows to tweak ‘pacifist’ constitution

TOKYO: Shinzo Abe vowed on Thursday to press on with revising Japan’s pacifist constitution after winning a historic third term as party head that set him on course to become the country’s longest-serving premier.

The 63-year-old conservative secured 553 votes against 254 won by former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba, a hawkish self-confessed "military geek", in a two-horse race for leader of the Liberal Democratic Party.

"I will finally embark on constitutional revision, which has never been achieved in the 70 years since the end of the war, and start building a new nation as we look to the future," Abe told reporters after his victory.

He said his election had given him "strong support" to suggest changes to the text, which he would submit to parliament at the next session, expected to take place in the next few weeks.

The election win hands Abe three more years as party leader, giving him the chance of breaking the record for the nation’s longest serving premiership held by Taro Katsura, a revered politician who served three times between 1901 and 1913. To loud cheers of "banzai" -- the Japanese equivalent of "three cheers" -- from party members, a grinning Abe said: "The battle is over. Let’s build a new Japan by joining hands and uniting."

Shinichi Nishikawa, professor of politics at Meiji University in Tokyo, told AFP that the vote was effectively a referendum on Abe’s record that he successfully negotiated. "But he can’t wholeheartedly welcome the result as he couldn’t win overwhelmingly."

Public support for Abe -- a political thoroughbred whose grandfather and father both held power -- has recovered after he managed to survive a series of cronyism and cover-up scandals.

Reconfirmed in power, Abe will head to New York this weekend to attend the UN General Assembly and hold a summit with US President Donald Trump. Abe and Trump, who enjoy each other’s company on the golf course and are close diplomatic allies, are expected to analyse the latest inter-Korean summit as well as trade disputes between them.

The premier said he would seek a face-to-face meeting with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un to solve the sensitive issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s. Nationalist Abe has frequently voiced his wish to rewrite the charter, imposed by the victorious US occupiers, which forces the country to "forever renounce war" and dictates that armed forces will "never be maintained".