Posted on Jul 10, 2022
Shinzo Abe's policies take on renewed significance for Japan
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https://www.npr.org/2022/07/09/ [login to see] /shinzo-abe-killed-legacy-japan
Shinzo Abe was Japan's longest-serving and perhaps its most consequential prime minister in the post-war era.
Over the course of a political career spanning decades, Abe championed policies that have reshaped Japanese foreign and defense policy to this day.
Abe's assassination Friday during an event in the city of Nara has prompted the world to reflect on these policies and what they attempted and actually accomplished for Japan.
He pushed through an economic program dubbed "Abenomics" aimed at reviving Japan's moribund economy. It had limited success.
Abe proposed the idea for the Quad, a grouping of four like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific to take on China's growing heft in the region, and tried to create an expanded role for the country's military.
Shinzo Abe was Japan's longest-serving and perhaps its most consequential prime minister in the post-war era.
Over the course of a political career spanning decades, Abe championed policies that have reshaped Japanese foreign and defense policy to this day.
Abe's assassination Friday during an event in the city of Nara has prompted the world to reflect on these policies and what they attempted and actually accomplished for Japan.
He pushed through an economic program dubbed "Abenomics" aimed at reviving Japan's moribund economy. It had limited success.
Abe proposed the idea for the Quad, a grouping of four like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific to take on China's growing heft in the region, and tried to create an expanded role for the country's military.
Shinzo Abe's policies take on renewed significance for Japan
Posted from npr.org
Japan
Policy
Foreign Policy
Economics
China
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Sad day for Japan & the world to have a leader killed like this.
..."Tougher national security policies
Conservatives from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, LDP, want Japan to take a more hands-on approach to national security.
There's increasing talk about creating counter-strike capabilities, which would allow them to destroy incoming missiles pre-emptively. There's also talk about doubling defense spending to 2% of Japan's GDP.
Waseda University's Ueki said the public has long been opposed to such moves, but now that's changing.
"The public seems to be more in support, whereas they were opposed previously," she said. "But I think it's a fairly limited offensive capability that Japan is talking about."
Ueki said Japan needs to be cautious that such moves aren't sending the wrong signal to "potential aggressors," and that engagement with China is still important. This is, after all, a major trading partner for Japan.
Japan is due to unveil a new national security strategy later this year, the first since 2013, along with a defense strategy and defense procurement budget. The documents will lay out guidelines for the country's foreign policy and defense strategies, and could address changes to Article 9.
Japan can now send its military abroad, but will it?
Hitoshi Tanaka, chairman of the Institute for International Strategy at the Japan Research Institute, said there have been some amendments to Article 9 over the years. In 2004, Japan deployed Self-Defense Forces to Iraq to help with reconstruction. Its navy took part in refueling missions in the Indian Ocean for U.S. fighter planes in the war in Afghanistan.
Tanaka, a former diplomat, said these missions didn't involve actual combat. He said to do that, the country would have to change the constitution in a fundamental way.
"I'm not disagreeing to have a debate on the change of the Constitution," he said. "You just don't do it while the atmosphere is quite explosive — Ukraine, Russia, China and sort of thing. Let's be quiet. Let's be cold headed."
If Japan's new national security strategy does call for far-reaching amendments to the country's pacifist constitution, it'll be one step closer to securing the late Prime Minister Abe's legacy."
..."Tougher national security policies
Conservatives from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, LDP, want Japan to take a more hands-on approach to national security.
There's increasing talk about creating counter-strike capabilities, which would allow them to destroy incoming missiles pre-emptively. There's also talk about doubling defense spending to 2% of Japan's GDP.
Waseda University's Ueki said the public has long been opposed to such moves, but now that's changing.
"The public seems to be more in support, whereas they were opposed previously," she said. "But I think it's a fairly limited offensive capability that Japan is talking about."
Ueki said Japan needs to be cautious that such moves aren't sending the wrong signal to "potential aggressors," and that engagement with China is still important. This is, after all, a major trading partner for Japan.
Japan is due to unveil a new national security strategy later this year, the first since 2013, along with a defense strategy and defense procurement budget. The documents will lay out guidelines for the country's foreign policy and defense strategies, and could address changes to Article 9.
Japan can now send its military abroad, but will it?
Hitoshi Tanaka, chairman of the Institute for International Strategy at the Japan Research Institute, said there have been some amendments to Article 9 over the years. In 2004, Japan deployed Self-Defense Forces to Iraq to help with reconstruction. Its navy took part in refueling missions in the Indian Ocean for U.S. fighter planes in the war in Afghanistan.
Tanaka, a former diplomat, said these missions didn't involve actual combat. He said to do that, the country would have to change the constitution in a fundamental way.
"I'm not disagreeing to have a debate on the change of the Constitution," he said. "You just don't do it while the atmosphere is quite explosive — Ukraine, Russia, China and sort of thing. Let's be quiet. Let's be cold headed."
If Japan's new national security strategy does call for far-reaching amendments to the country's pacifist constitution, it'll be one step closer to securing the late Prime Minister Abe's legacy."
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In the 19 months lived in Japan, I never saw a gun outside of an American Post. This guy proved that when you can't get one, you build one. Shinzo Abe started out with a term that was inconsequential and then came along to be highly significant for Japan and us
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