As Japan’s new prime minister, Kishida will need to address his economic woes and inequalities
NS The election of Fumio Kishida As the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) opens a new chapter in Japan’s otherwise status quo politics, when its geopolitical prominence is rising amid China’s rapid development and the United States’ pivot to the region. Mr. Kishida, a former foreign minister, is set to be elected the next prime minister when parliament convenes next week, as the LDP controls the legislature. Japan was put in a leadership contest after the unpopular prime minister, Yoshihide Suga announces his resignation Earlier this month amid growing public outcry over his government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic woes associated with it. The traditionally conservative, pro-business LDP, which dominates the politics of post-war Japan, was clearly not convinced to go to parliamentary elections in November under Mr. Suga; Their approval rating had dropped from 60% in January to below 30% in August. In the early rounds of voting between the four candidates to lead the party on Wednesday, Mr. Kishida was side-by-side with Taro Kono, a serving minister in the Suga government who has enjoyed high popularity among the party’s rank and file. But the run-off saw a majority of legislators backing Mr. Kishida, who was backed by the LDP establishment.
Mr. Kishida’s most immediate big task is to lead the party to parliamentary elections in a matter of weeks. With the Covid situation easing, the LDP appears confident of victory under the new leadership. But winning the election will be the first of several major challenges for Mr. Kishida. He needs to come up with a program to lift the world’s third largest economy out of its slump. Even as the US and China were back in growth following the COVID lockdown, Japan’s economy continued to falter under a prolonged national emergency declared to fight the virus. Despite the LDP’s conservative past, Mr. Kishida took a centre-left position on the economy during the campaign. He promised increased spending to revive the economy and asked corporations to distribute more of their profits to middle-class workers. It remains to be seen whether these were merely examples of election rhetoric or whether Kishida will turn them into policies to address Japan’s economic crisis and growing inequality. There will be a formidable challenge in the field of foreign policy. After announcing the AUKUS alliance with the UK and Australia, under which Australia would be supplied nuclear submarines, the US has made it clear that the Indo-Pacific is the new theater of great power rivalry. Japan, a US ally in the Pacific region with deep economic ties with China, will find it difficult to sit on the fence for long. Mr Kishida, who called Taiwan “a front line in the struggle by democracies against authoritarianism” and backed building up Japan’s missile-strike capability, has already indicated which direction he will take China. If he talks, then the tension in East Asia is going to increase.
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