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Japan post its election........

Japan has just had an election and the same old Liberal Democratic Party has been returned to power after an absence of some 3 years.    Unfortunately, with PM Abe in the driver's seat, things may get a tad hairy in the region, not the least because of the ongoing territorial fight with the Chinese.    And then there is the restoration of nuclear power stations to Japan, etc. etc.

"East Asia is bracing for an era of tension and confrontation after Japan's general elections returned a hawkish conservative to power.

The Liberal Democratic party's resounding victory on Sunday threatens to further impair relations with China if the new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, makes good on promises to take a tough stance in a territorial row.

Yesterday's result marked a dramatic comeback for the LDP, three years after it was ousted by the left-of-centre Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), ending its near monopoly on power for five decades.

Abe, who is expected to be installed as Japan's seventh prime minister in six years on Boxing day, has vowed to strengthen Japan's military in the face of Beijing's more aggressive posture in the East China Sea and North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

A furious reaction is expected from Beijing if the LDP goes ahead with campaign pledges to develop fisheries and build on the Senkakus, a group of islands administered by Japan but also claimed by China, which calls them the Diaoyu.

China's Xinhua news agency warned Japan to resist the shift to the right that has characterised the election, held months after Chinese demonstrators attacked Japanese businesses following Japan's purchase of the islands from their private owners.

"An economically weak and politically angry Japan will not only hurt the country, but also hurt the region and the world at large," Xinhua said. "Japan, which brought great harm and devastation to other Asian countries in the second world war, will raise further suspicions among its neighbours if the current political trend of turning right is not stopped in time."

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