On January 16, the leader of Japan's Constitutional Democratic Party, Yukio Hatoyama, submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications a joint application for the establishment of a coalition party with the Komeito Party, aiming to jointly oppose the camp of Takahashi Sanae in the upcoming House of Representatives election.

The two parties decided to name their new party "Center Reform Coalition," with the goal of uniting moderate forces, and aim to gain more support from moderate voters. The members of the House of Representatives from both parties will gradually complete the procedures to register as members of the new party.

At around 3 p.m. on the 16th, the leaders of the Constitutional Democratic Party, Hatoyama Yukio, and the Komeito Party, Saito Tetsuo, will hold a joint press conference and make an official announcement.

In October last year, the Komeito Party withdrew from the long-standing ruling coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) over dissatisfaction with the handling of the "political black money scandal" by the other party's leadership. The Constitutional Democratic Party upholds the principles of social liberalism and constitutionalism. Both parties oppose the right-wing conservative policy orientation of the Takahashi Cabinet.

Takahashi Sanae has decided to dissolve the House of Representatives during the regular session of the Diet scheduled for January 23, holding the general election two years ahead of schedule. The voting date may be February 8 or 15.

Currently, the LDP holds 199 seats in the House of Representatives, and when combined with the Restoration Party, they have 233 seats, just over half the total number of seats.

An analysis points out that Takahashi's move aims to harness public opinion and accelerate the implementation of policies, further strengthening the so-called legitimacy of her far-right policies, while also bringing more negative impacts to the situation in Northeast Asia.

In a nationwide public opinion survey conducted by Yomiuri Shimbun this month, since its establishment in October last year, the Takahashi Cabinet has maintained a high level of over 70%. Japanese people generally have high expectations for the new cabinet and hope that this first female head of government can break the long-standing male-dominated Japanese politics.

Takahashi Sanae has repeatedly made erroneous statements on regional diplomatic affairs and the new developments of Japan's far-right forces, which need to be highly vigilant by neighboring countries and the international community.

She strongly advocates amending the Peace Constitution and increasing Japan's defense budget. Regarding the principle of "not allowing nuclear weapons to be brought into Japan" within Japan's three non-nuclear principles, Takahashi Sanae believes it is necessary to discuss it.

In terms of historical issues, Takahashi Sanae once publicly called for revisiting the crimes of Japan's forced recruitment of "comfort women" and supported visiting the Yasukuni Shrine. She previously stated that if she becomes Prime Minister, she will continue to visit the Yasukuni Shrine as Prime Minister.

Original: toutiao.com/article/7595779692973326848/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author themselves.