Japan's Longest-Serving Leader Abe Resigns Due to Health Reasons - Bloomberg
Category: News & Politics
Via: sister-mary-agnes-ample-bottom • 4 years ago • 9 commentsBy: Lily Nonomiya (Bloomberg. com)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Isabel Reynolds and Lily NonomiyaUpdated on 5:24
Japan's Longest-Serving Leader Abe Resigns Due to Health Reasons
By Isabel Reynolds and Lily Nonomiya ,
- Prime Minister Abe visited Tokyo hospital twice this month
- A chronic digestive condition forced him to step down in 2007
Japan's Abe to Resign Due to Health Reasons
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned to undergo treatment for a chronic illness, ending his run as the country's longest serving premier.
"What is most important in politics is to achieve results," Abe said at a briefing in Tokyo. "I have done everything I can to achieve results in the last seven years and 8 months."
Japan's Topix index dropped as much as 1.6% when the news broke on Friday, while the yen rebounded from losses. Abe spoke for a few minutes Friday ahead of the reports, where he told a meeting of the government's virus task force his administration has put together a new plan to combat Covid-19 ahead of the winter flu season.
"It was an absolute surprise since it was so sudden," Tomomi Inada, the party's deputy secretary general, told reporters. "I hadn't expected it."
Abe's record-setting run brought stability to Japan after a revolving door of six administrations, including a previous stint by the 65-year-old leader. He helped Japan escape from a cycle of deflation, endured a Trump administration that questioned the nation's only military alliance, and worked to improve ties with its biggest trading partner China, which were at their most hostile in decades when he took office.
Abe is perhaps best known for his plans to revive the flagging economy through unprecedented monetary easing and regulatory reform that was eventually labeled "Abenomics." He has been seen as a steady hand who has consolidated power during his record run and been able to overcome scandals, including one that came to light in 2017 over questionable government land allocations for schools provided to associates of Abe and his wife Akie.
"Monetary and fiscal policies will remain intact for now, but the mood will sour like it did last time," said Tsutomu Soma, a bond trader at Monex Inc. in Tokyo. "It is going to take a long time for Japan to see a long-standing administration again. Having a stable government had helped the country pursue various reforms, but political jitters could risk Japan's position in the international arena."
It was uncertain when an LDP election would take place, and who could take over. Top contenders include Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Finance Minister Taro Aso and Shigeru Ishiba, a former defense minister, who is currently the voters' top choice to take over. He has backed economic policies seen as more populist than Abe's, and said in an interview in April that too much wealth was accumulating in the hands of stockholders and company owners.
'Tug of War'
"The tug of war will start now," said Tomoaki Iwai, a professor of political science at Nihon University. "Suga's name will come up. But if they hold a party leadership election, they need to think about the general election and people like Ishiba will have an advantage."
Abe has had little time away from work as the coronavirus continues to spread throughout Japan, triggering the worst economic contraction on record in the April-June quarter. As virus numbers have increased in recent weeks, Abe's approval slid to a record low of 35.4% in a poll published by JNN in early August, with critics saying his policies have come too late and fallen short of needs.
This month, Japan's two largest opposition parties said they would merge, as they looked to the LDP ahead of elections that must be held by October of next year. The deal could bring together about 150 lawmakers across both houses of parliament, compared with the LDP's almost 400.
"The problem is that he's now an electoral liability, so if the LDP wants to win elections, they need to change leaders," said Steven Reed, an emeritus professor of political science at Chuo University
The main opposition parties have so far failed to capitalize on Abe's decline in the polls. Voters have long indicated that they don't see the groups as a better alternative to the LDP, which has ruled Japan for 60 of the last 65 years.
The grandson of former premier Nobusuke Kishi and son of a foreign minister, Abe sought to bolster Japan's presence on the world stage. He loosened restrictions on the military and increased the country's defense budget. He has long pressed a revision of Japan's pacifist constitution and has been accused by critics of trying to whitewash the country's militarist past.
Trump, China
In 2016, Abe became the first leader of a major nation to court Donald Trump following his election as U.S. president -- working to maintain personal ties through golf games and hamburger lunches, despite differences of opinion on subjects ranging from trade to climate change.
Those efforts were called into question when Japan came under the threat of punitive U.S. auto tariffs, forcing him to agree to a bilateral trade deal that opponents criticized as giving away too much. Trump later called on Japan to quadruple what it pays to support U.S. troops in Japan.
While Abe's government has been cautious in voicing criticism of China, his ruling party has signaled a tougher line in recent months. Some LDP members have sought to block a state visit to Tokyo by President Xi Jinping, saying it wouldn't be appropriate in light of moves such as Beijing's new security law seen as undermining Hong Kong's autonomy. And Japan has subsidized some companies to shift operations away from China.
Abe also devoted energy to trying to resolve a World War II territorial dispute with Russia, which has simmered for seven decades.
— With assistance by Sophie Jackman, Jon Herskovitz, and Tomoko Yamazaki
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Not sure I believe the reason given...
better hide all the cutlery...
Hari Kari sword?
Only the Katanas and the Wakizashis.
We'll hear more in the coming days. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in China and the course the new PM will take.
I'm guessing that the people of Japan would prefer that their PM deal with a fair minded POTUS, as opposed to a straight-up idiot that spends all day either tweeting stupid stuff and doing stupid stuff.
I think this means that Abe believes Trump is going to win.
Trump is probably the one who made him sick, a common problem here.
His reason is not surprising to me. He was the leader of a relatively small Asian nation for quite a while caught geographically between Russia, China, and North Korea and was relatively successful doing so, standing up to them in the process! If the tensions involved in doing so are not enough to cause health problems, I don't know what is!