Japanese political and economic leaders on Wednesday called on the newly-elected ruling Liberal Democratic Party President Shinzo Abe to make all efforts to improve Japan's diplomacy in Asia.

Komeito party member Takenori Kanzaki urged Abe to commit himself to amending relations with Asian countries.

Kakutaro Kitashiro, Deputy Secretary of the Japan Association of Corporation Executives, said he hopes that Abe will take the national feelings of China and South Korea into consideration and think carefully what is in line with Japan's national interests.

Chugi Ichida, Secretariat Chief of the Japanese Communist Party, pointed out that it's dangerous that Abe hasn't clearly expressed his viewpoints on Japan's aggression and colonization in the history and bears a strong intention to revise the Constitution.

Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party, denounced Abe as a LDP president "most close to war" in the post- war era, and criticized that Abe's Cabinet will be "a Cabinet running against the post-war era" and "a Cabinet of revising the Constitution." Fukushima pledged to fight overall against the LDP with democratic forces.

Abe was elected the 21st LDP president on Wednesday afternoon and will naturally succeed Junichiro Koizumi as Japan's next prime minister.

He sealed 464 votes among the total 703 ballots. The other two candidates, Foreign Minister Taro Aso and Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, got 136 and 102 votes respectively.

Source: Xinhua