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Japan
This Week in AsiaPolitics

New Rising Sun: can post-Abe Japan leave China’s shadow to lead Asia?

  • A ‘genius in handling Trump’ and the patron of Abenomics, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister Shinzo Abe will be a hard act to follow
  • Contenders must navigate South China Sea perils, an ugly US election, territorial disputes with China and Russia, and a riddle about pacifism

Reading Time:11 minutes
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Illustration: Huy Truong
Maria Siow
By the standards of any politician, Shinzo Abe – who recently announced his resignation as Japan’s prime minister – is a hard act to follow.
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Over four terms of office stretching back to 2006, Abe did more to raise his country’s profile and international presence than perhaps any Japanese leader since the second world war. Along the way he became the country’s longest-serving prime minister, its youngest since the war, ushered in revolutionary economic policies that still bear his name, broached the taboo over the country’s pacifist constitution and built a formidable personal brand that gained the respect of capitals across the world.

Indeed, so great does his presence loom over modern Japan that many Japanese are openly wondering whether his departure – due to a resurgence of the same ulcerative colitis that ended his first term in office – throws into doubt Japan’s influence with its allies and its ambitions as a leader for the region.

Abe’s shoes would be hard to fill even in the best circumstances. Harder still, though, given that any successor will have at most just one year – until October 2021 – to establish themselves before a general election must be held. Throw in the complications of the coronavirus pandemic and it would be a brave leader indeed who deviates substantially from the path Abe has forged in the realms of security, defence and diplomacy.
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Exactly who it is that faces that challenge will soon become clear; the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is expected to elect its party leader on September 14 and then pick the new prime minister on September 17.

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