Sept 16 (Reuters) - Japan's new prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, who has vowed to wrest control of policy from bureaucrats and re-allocate public spending to focus on households, took office on Wednesday following his party's historic election victory last month.
Following are quotes from his first news conference as prime minister:
EAST ASIAN COMMUNITY
"I think (a community) is the right direction to consider in Asia, in East Asia in particular, over the medium to long term," Hatoyama told reporters after his Democratic Party took control of the government.
"That is not aimed at excluding the dollar or the United States. Rather, I envisage an Asia-Pacific community beyond that."
ON TIES WITH THE UNITED STATES
"Japan has tended to have a passive role in its relationship with the United States. We want an active role. We want the kind of relationship where we can tell one other frankly what we are thinking."
BUILDING A NEW POLITICAL SYSTEM
"We might make mistakes as we do things by trial and error. We want the people to be tolerant ... We would appreciate if the people nurture the new government with patience.
"We are plunging into a world of which we have no experience."
ECONOMIC STIMULUS
"We must review the economic stimulus (compiled by former Prime Minister Taro Aso.) In some cases, we may ask for spending to be halted.
"Those steps that are already being executed or that are aimed at helping regional economies ... should basically continue. But we need to review other steps such as those that have not been carried out yet."
JAPAN'S BUDGET
"We would like to carry out policies that will stimulate households so the Japanese people can have hopes for the future, such as child benefits and cuts in gasoline tax.
"That raises questions about how to finance those policies ... I think we can say that securing enough funds is in sight. We will have enough funds at least for the first (fiscal) year." (Reporting by Isabel Reynolds, Stanley White, Hideyuki Sano and Yoko Kubota; Editing by Michael Watson)