Half a year has passed since Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took office.

The government’s draft budget for the fiscal year that started on April 1 breezed through the Diet as the opposition Democratic Party for the People joined the ruling coalition to vote for the bill.

It was the fourth earliest passage of a budget bill in the postwar period. The Kishida Cabinet is enjoying strong approval ratings.

This is, however, no time for the Kishida administration to be complacent about its performance since it is facing a litany of sticky policy challenges both at home and abroad, including repercussions from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and a looming resurgence in COVID-19 cases.

Kishida won a public mandate by securing a solid victory in a Lower House election he called immediately after he came into office. But the ruling camp’s strong showing in the poll had little to do with Kishida’s job performance given that he had yet to make any political achievement at that time.

The upcoming Upper House election this summer will effectively be the first opportunity for voters to deliver their verdict on his leadership.

If he manages to chalk up another win in the poll, Kishida will see his political power base become strong enough to allow him to exercise effective leadership to push through his policy agenda.

Unless he dissolves the Lower House for a snap poll, the Kishida administration will have three long years to pursue its policy goals without having to face the voters’ verdict on its track record in a national election.

The political calendar means that Kishida and his Liberal Democratic Party have the responsibility to present clear mid- to long-term policy visions to the voting public instead of offering political giveaways to garner votes.

Kishida has yet to announce any specific policy proposal to realize what he calls a “new form of capitalism,” his key political slogan. The prime minister also needs to map out an effective strategy for revitalizing social and economic activities while keeping the pandemic under control.

The government also has to tackle a long list of other policy challenges, including reforming the social security system to ensure it will be effective and viable in a rapidly aging society with low birthrates and securing long-term fiscal sustainability.

The second administration of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who returned to power in late 2012, pressed ahead with some controversial policy initiatives after winning an election by campaigning on a platform focused on pocketbook issues.

The Abe administration, for instance, pushed through such deeply divisive legislative initiatives as the enactment of a state secrets protection law and new national security legislation, which opened the door for Japan to exercise part of its right to collective self-defense.

Such an underhanded political ploy to achieve policy goals should not be used again.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has violently disrupted the international order. It is hardly surprising that there is a growing wave of public attention to Japanese national security issues.

But the government should take care not to allow itself to be agitated by the ongoing situation. It should instead make cool-headed security policy decisions based on a comprehensive assessment of the various factors involved.

During the past six months, Kishida has continued saying he will “consider” the proposal to give the Self-Defense Forces the ability to strike enemy bases as an option. His stance has not helped promote in-depth debate on the pros and cons of the proposal or on whether it is a viable idea.

Kishida should not keep avoiding discussing the issue until after the Upper House election and then decide to promote the proposal in line with the argument made by proponents within the ruling party, including Abe.

This week, the LDP held a meeting of the policy chiefs of its prefectural chapters as a first step in crafting its campaign platform for the election.

Speaking at the meeting, Kishida called on the attendees to “collect the voices of people across the nation so that we, as a responsible national party, can develop a platform that convinces the public” to support the party.

As a responsible national party, the LDP should not only listen carefully to the desires of voters but also openly propose policies it deems necessary for the nation in its campaign platform to ensure meaningful national debate on these during the campaign.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 8