Beijing-baiting Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, whose bid to buy disputed islands ignited a smouldering row between Japan and China, is to launch his own national political party, reports said Thursday.
The outspoken Ishihara, 80, wants to forge a new grouping big enough to rival the two largest established parties ahead of an expected general election, media said.
Ishihara, an irascible voice on the national political scene for decades, will co-opt members of the tiny right wing Sunrise Party for his new venture, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.
He will also seek to join hands with the bullish mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, a straight-talking maverick whose recently-formed Japan Restoration Party is aiming to seize control of the powerful lower house.
Ishihara, a four-term Tokyo governor whose provocative opinions on all things foreign have more than once caused an international stir, is due to speak to the press at 0600 GMT.
Reports of the move come after months of tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over the sovereignty of a group of islands in the East China Sea, which flared after Ishihara said he wanted to buy them for his metropolitan government.
Nationalists from both sides staged island landings before Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda stepped in to outbid Ishihara, who had amassed well over one billion yen ($12.8 million) in public donations towards the cost.
The government completed its purchase of three of the five islands in the chain — it already owned the fourth and leases the fifth — on September 11.
Ministers have said the move to nationalise the islands was an attempt to maintain the status quo and avoid an escalation in the dispute, with many of the view that a purchase by Ishihara would be inflammatory.
But Beijing reacted furiously and tens of thousands of protesters poured onto the streets in cities across China, some vandalising Japanese business outlets.
Japan’s exports to China, its biggest trading partner, tumbled 14.1 percent last month, partly because demand dropped for Japan-branded products including industrial machinery and cars.
On Thursday, four Chinese government ships entered waters around the islands, Japan’s coastguard said.
Tokyo governor to set up new party: reports
