TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida resigned along with his Cabinet on Tuesday, clearing the way for him to become prime minister. The successor is likely to be Shigeru Ishiba. To take office.
Mr. Kishida takes office He will step down in 2021, leaving the party to install new leadership after the government was plagued by scandal. Ishiba is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on October 27, after being officially elected prime minister later that day.
Ishiba announced plans to hold a snap general election on Monday, saying, “I believe it is important for the new government to seek the judgment of the people as soon as possible.” Opposition parties criticized Ishiba for giving parliament only a short period of time to consider and debate the policy before voting.
Mr. Ishiba was selected As the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party He was sworn in on Friday to replace Kishida, who announced in August that he would step down at the end of his three-year term.
Ishiba is certain to become prime minister in a parliamentary vote later on Tuesday, as his party’s ruling coalition holds a majority.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said that Kishida and other cabinet members resigned at a cabinet meeting in the morning.
Hayashi, a close aide to Mr. Kishida, mentioned the deepening global divisions over Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Middle East conflict, and said that the world has high expectations for Japan’s diplomatic role. Hayashi said, “I would like the next government to develop active and powerful diplomacy while emphasizing (Japan’s) major pillars such as realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
After becoming prime minister, Ishiba announced the party leadership ahead of his cabinet nominations. Former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who came third in the party’s leadership election, will be appointed head of the party’s campaign headquarters. Defense expert Tsuyoshi Iwaya is expected to be appointed as foreign minister and Hajime Nakatani as defense secretary.
Like Ishiba, most of the cabinet members do not appear to belong to factions led or controlled by party stalwarts, nor are they from former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s influential group, which was implicated in a damaging scandal.
The liberal-leaning Asahi Shimbun says that even though Ishiba hopes to strengthen party unity ahead of the next general election, Ishiba’s lack of a stable power base could mean the government is vulnerable. , reported that it “could soon collapse.”
The move appears to be retaliation for Ishiba, who was largely sidelined for most of Abe’s reign.
Ishiba proposes the creation of an Asian version of the NATO military alliance and further discussions among regional partners about the use of US nuclear deterrence. He also proposed building a more equal Japan-U.S. security alliance, including joint management of U.S. military bases in Japan and the location of Self-Defense Force bases in the United States.
Ishiba outlined his views in an op-ed for the Hudson Institute last week. “The absence of a collective self-defense system like NATO in Asia means that war is likely to break out as there is no obligation of mutual defense. “The creation of an Asian version of NATO is essential to deterring China,” he wrote.
Ishiba proposes combining existing security and diplomatic groupings, such as the Quad and other bilateral and multilateral frameworks involving the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and the Philippines.
He also noted that an Asian version of NATO could also consider sharing control of US nuclear weapons in the region as a deterrent against growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia.
Ishiba stressed on Friday that Japan needs to strengthen its security, pointing to recent violations of Japanese airspace by Russian and Chinese fighter jets and repeated missile launches by North Korea.
The prime minister will continue Kishida’s economic policies aimed at lifting Japan out of deflation and achieving real wage growth, while tackling challenges such as Japan’s declining birthrate, population decline and resilience to natural disasters. I promised.
The Liberal Democratic Party has ruled Japan almost uninterrupted since World War II. With the party reeling from corruption scandals that have dented Kishida’s popularity, party members believe Ishiba’s centrist views will be crucial to pushing back challenges from liberal-leaning opposition parties and gaining support from voters. It might be.
Mr. Ishiba was first elected as a member of the Diet in 1986, and went on to serve as Minister of Defense, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and other key cabinet positions, and also served as Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party under the Abe administration.
___
Follow AP’s Asia-Pacific coverage. https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific
