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Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, smiles as he leaves the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Tuesday. Image: AP/Hiro Komae
politics

Kishida, cabinet resign before Ishiba takes office

14 Comments

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida resigned with his cabinet, paving the way for his likely successor Shigeru Ishiba to take office.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi announced that Kishida and his ministers stepped down at a cabinet meeting Tuesday.

Ishiba was chosen as the governing Liberal Democratic Party’s leader on Friday to replace Kishida, who announced in August his resignation at the end of his three-year term.

Ishiba is assured to be prime minister later Tuesday in a vote by parliament because it is dominated by his party’s ruling coalition.

Ishiba will then announce his new cabinet later in the day.

Kishida took office in 2021 but is leaving so his party can have a fresh leader after his government was dogged by scandals.

On Monday, Ishiba said he planned to call a parliamentary election to be held on Oct 27 after he is formally chosen as prime minister.

“I believe it is important to have the new administration get the public’s judgment as soon as possible,” Ishiba said.

He also announced his party leaders Monday ahead of naming his cabinet.

He appointed former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who came in third in the party leadership race, to head the party’s election task force.

He is expected to name defense experts and his longtime confidantes Takeshi Iwaya as foreign minister and Gen Nakatani as defense chief once he takes office.

Ishiba has proposed an Asian version of the NATO military alliance and more discussion among regional partners about the use of the U.S. nuclear deterrence. He also suggested a more equal Japan-U.S. security alliance, including joint management of U.S. bases in Japan and having Japanese Self Defense Force bases in the United States.

Ishiba outlined his views in an article to the Hudson Institute last week. “The absence of a collective self-defense system like NATO in Asia means that wars are likely to break out because there is no obligation for mutual defense. Under these circumstances, the creation of an Asian version of NATO is essential to deter China by its Western allies,” he wrote.

Ishiba proposes combining of 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 the Asian version of NATO can also consider sharing of the control of U.S. nuclear weapons in the region as a deterrence against growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia.

Ishiba on Friday stressed Japan needs to reinforce its security, noting recent violations of Japanese airspace by Russian and Chinese warplanes and repeated missile launches by North Korea.

He pledged to continue Kishida’s economic policy aimed at pulling Japan out of deflation and achieving real salary increases, while tackling challenges such as Japan’s declining birthrate and population and resilience to natural disasters.

The LDP has had a nearly unbroken tenure governing Japan since World War II. The party members may have seen Ishiba’s more centrist views as crucial in pushing back challenges by the liberal-leaning opposition and winning voter support as the party reels from corruption scandals that drove down Kishida’s popularity.

Ishiba, first elected to parliament in 1986, has served as defense minister, agriculture minister and in other key Cabinet posts, and was LDP secretary general under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

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14 Comments
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Pro-Taiwan and pro-NATO Ishiba as prime minister, and IPAC co-chair Gen Nakatani as Defense Minister. A very good combination to counter the China threat.

https://www.ipac.global/

No wonder the pro-CCP hordes on JT are spitting feathers.

5 ( +12 / -7 )

Good. Now change the locks.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Something about this picture struck me as odd, and then I realized: out of all the people in this picture there is only four women. Very strange.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Kishida took office in 2021 but is leaving so his party can have a fresh leader after his government was dogged by scandals.

The LDP truly take the Japanese electorate for fools, or just the usual throwaway rhetoric if they think the endemic LDP corruption will be solved by the shuffling in of another party insider.

Business as usual

-4 ( +5 / -9 )

Good riddance!

-7 ( +5 / -12 )

Bet they're all glad he's gone.

-9 ( +4 / -13 )

Blatant incompetence and he still gets flowers.

-8 ( +5 / -13 )

Something about this picture struck me as odd, and then I realized: out of all the people in this picture there is only four women. Very strange.

Ishiba has managed to find TWO women for his cabinet. I'm really impressed.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

izzy:

Pro-Taiwan and pro-NATO Ishiba as prime minister.

Just a while back, some here were saying he was too pro-China. Trust you to put a positive spin on everything.

No wonder the pro-CCP hordes on JT are spitting feathers.

I don't think they care, considering he's supposed to be 'pro-China', and is not keen on having US military bases. Whatever floats you boat. I won't wake you up.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

"modern version double national income plan", Kishida said so at first. but it fizzle out soon, his government only increased tax revenue and large corporations' profit or internal reserves and assets of wealth class. they ignored most people, more expanded inequality and poverty. Such situation has worsened even social divide between such as generation or gender or majority and minority.

Also, His regime ignores majority public opposition, forced to hold state funeral for problematic and suspicious former PM Abe to satisfy handful far-rights.

Its next year, even slush fundraising that its Abe's group deeply related it or bribery that PM or chief cabinet secretary funded when election were also revealed.

During three years, he just worked only for own political gain, not for ordinal people.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Take a close review of/to the Kishida exiting cabinet CV career paths,

All are life long politicians, the procedure for new Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba cabinet, is akin to "ripple shuffling" a pack of playing cards and dealing out the names into each post and portfolio.

Any "up and comers" will be well down the pecking order.

The LDP can never be accused of enforcing any steep learning curves.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Do Svidaniya. Sayonara.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

The root of man-made disaster that victimized most number of general citizen in recent years is unworthy of applause or bouquet.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Good job mate, you almost made a full term, almost!

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

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