Japan's ruling party unveils manifesto with focus on coronavirus, defence

Tokyo: Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) unveiled on Tuesday its manifesto for an Oct. 31 election with a focus on ending the coronavirus pandemic, promises to rebuild the middle class and defend against an increasingly assertive China.

The party's leader, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, enjoys a reasonable level of public support a week into the job, polls show, boding well for his goal of maintaining a lower house majority for the LDP and its Komeito party coalition partner.

"We would like to show solid measures and appeal to the people, first, how to confront the coronavirus ... and to bring peace of mind and hope to the people," LDP policy chief Sanae Takaichi told a news conference.