Japan: Resignation of Prime Minister Abe_full_text
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Shinzo Abe, 52, the prime minister of Japan and the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), announced on Sept. 11 that he was resigning from his posts, after serving less than one year in office. Abe said that he was resigning because he thought that a new leader was required to resolve a political deadlock in Japan over the government’s support for US-led military operations in Afghanistan, according to a report published by the Reuters news agency on Sept. 12. Abe had hinted on Sept. 10 that he might resign if the Diet (the bicameral legislature) failed to extend a law, due to expire on Nov. 1, authorising the continuation of a Japanese naval mission supporting US-led forces in Afghanistan.
LDP officials announced on Sept. 13 that a leadership contest to elect a new party president would be held on Sept. 23, after which Abe was expected to stand down from the premiership and party leadership posts. The eventual winner of the LDP leadership contest was virtually assured of being elected as Japan’s next Prime Minister because the party held a majority in the House of Representatives (the lower chamber), which elected Japan’s leader.
Immediate Context
Abe, widely regarded as a nationalist and a conservative, was elected as LDP president--and thus Prime Minister--in September 2006. Shortly after assuming power Abe pledged to rewrite the country’s pacifist constitution, whilst achieving closer political ties with the USA and greater Japanese influence over global security. Although Abe secured some early political triumphs, including an agreement to increase ties and work towards “a strategic relationship of mutual interest” with China, his time in office was plagued by a series of scandals involving his cabinet ministers. Toshikatsu Matsuoka, the minister of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, committed suicide in May 2007 amid allegations of corruption, whilst Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma resigned in July after making controversial remarks about the US atomic bomb attacks against Japan in August 1945.
The scandals gradually eroded public support for Abe’s government, culminating in a disastrous election result in July 2007, when the LDP, for the first time in the party’s history, lost majority control of the House of Councillors (the upper chamber).
Reaction and Outlook
Prime Minister Abe said on Sept. 11 that he was “stepping down”, because it was “extremely important to continue the fight against terrorism”, a reference to the legislative deadlock over Japan’s support for the US-led military action in Afghanistan.
Some LDP officials revealed that concerns over the Prime Minister’s health had been a factor in the announcement of his resignation. On Sept. 12 Abe was admitted to hospital, reportedly for treatment of a pre-existing gastrointestinal disorder, which had been exacerbated by stress and exhaustion caused by the demands of the job.
It was announced on Sept. 13 that Fukushiro Nukaga, 63, who was appointed as finance minister in a cabinet reshuffle in August, intended to contest the LDP leadership contest, Reuters reported on Sept. 13. However, Taro Aso, 66, a former foreign minister and the secretary-general of the LDP, and Yasuo Fukuda, 71, a former chief cabinet secretary, were widely regarded as the leading candidates in the leadership election to succeed Abe. An opinion poll published by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, cited in a Reuters report on Sept. 17, suggested that 55 per cent of LDP legislators supported Fukuda’s candidacy, whilst 12 per cent supported Aso.
Historical Context
Japan’s “pacifist” constitution (and the limitations this placed on the political elite’s apparent desire to play a prominent role in global security issues), regional diplomatic relations (most notably with China), and issues surrounding Japan’s history of military aggression, were regarded as the key challenges facing Prime Minister Abe’s eventual successor.
Japan had engaged in several military confrontations with China since the first Sino-Japanese war in 1894-95, which was caused by rivalry between the two countries for influence over Korea and which had ended in victory for Japan and its annexation of Korea in 1910. In 1931 Japanese military forces occupied Chinese Manchuria, creating a new independent state called Manchukuo in 1932. During Sino-Japanese hostilities in 1931-45, Japanese military forces committed war crimes in China, including the massacre in December 1937 of at least 200,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians, many of whom were raped, in the Chinese city of Nanking.
Japan’s “pacifist” constitution, promulgated in 1946 under US supervision after World War II, had limited Japan’s armed forces to self-defence duties as a response to Japanese military aggression during the 1930s and 1940s.
The former Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and former Chinese Prime Minister Chou En-lai on Sept. 30, 1972, signed a joint statement, ending more than 75 years of enmity between the two countries and normalising their relations.
The LDP had dominated politics in Japan since its formation in November 1955, when the Democratic and Liberal parties merged.
Abe, who was Japan’s youngest leader since the end of World War II, came from a family with a rich political history. His father, Shintaro Abe, was one of Japan’s most eminent political figures who had been, prior to his death in May 1991, widely expected to succeed Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu when his term in office ended in October 1991. Former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi (1957-60), who had been influential in the foundation of the LDP, was Shinzo Abe’s grandfather.
In October 2001 the Diet approved controversial legislation that enabled the dispatch of troops overseas to provide non-combat support for the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan. In November 2001 the House of Councillors authorised the dispatch of Japan’s Self-Defence Forces (SDF) to the Indian Ocean to support the US-led operations in Afghanistan. The SDF, which was established in 1954, had never previously been deployed in wartime conditions. The approval by the Diet in February 2004 of the deployment of 1,000 Japanese troops to Iraq was Japan's largest military deployment since World War II.
