Japan’s next prime minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday outlined his ideas to reshape the nation’s miliary alliance with Washington, after winning the conservative ruling party’s leadership race.
The seasoned 67-year-old former defence minister beat arch-nationalist Sanae Takaichi — who would have been the country’s first-ever woman leader — in the final round.
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has governed almost uninterrupted for decades and holds a majority, meaning Ishiba will be elected premier by parliament on Tuesday.
In a press conference on Friday, Ishiba vowed to restore confidence in the party after a funding scandal and gave a cautious run-down of his key reform pledges.
“Japan wants to fulfil our proactive responsibility and start discussions about how to build peace in this region,” he said when asked about his proposals for an Asian NATO.
It could be a expansion of several existing blocs such as the so-called Quad that groups Japan, the United States, India and Australia, he said.
Establishing a military training facility for its troops in the US, as Germany has done, could be an “extremely effective” way to strengthen the bilateral alliance and would allow Japanese forces to “train at their maximum capability”.
He said he wanted to call a snap election to shore up his mandate “as soon as possible” but declined to say when.
Security challenges
Ishiba had come close to the top job before, including in 2012 when he lost to nationalist Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving leader who was later assassinated.
The military model-maker with an affinity for 1970s pop idols says his experience tackling tough issues, such as agriculture reforms, makes him qualified to lead.
Recent days and weeks have seen separate incursions into Japanese airspace by Chinese and Russian military planes, as well as North Korean missile tests.
“I have worked on national security matters for a long time and I will be committed to protecting Japan’s territory,” he said.
Following the result, China’s foreign ministry spokesman said the country wants to improve ties with Japan.
“The long-term, sound and steady development of China-Japan relations serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples,” he said.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said the country hopes to “maintain the positive momentum in Japan-South Korea relations”.
Yen surges
At home, Ishiba will be tasked with breathing life into the economy, as the central bank moves away from decades of monetary easing that has slashed the value of the yen.
Ishiba supports the Bank of Japan’s exit from its unorthodox ultra-loose policies, and the Japanese currency surged after Friday’s result.
He has also pledged to revitalise rural regions and proposes creating a government agency for disaster prevention.
In the first round of voting, a record nine candidates were in the running after the LDP’s long-powerful factions disbanded this year over the funding scandal.
Takaichi, the economic security minister, is a vocal nationalist popular with the LDP’s conservative wing.
The 63-year-old was close to assassinated ex-premier Abe, whose supporters are still powerful.
‘Courage in his convictions’
LDP leaders are in office for three years and can serve up to three straight terms. Unpopular Prime Minister Fumio Kishida did not run for re-election.
“I have a good impression of Ishiba, because he seems to have courage in his convictions,” Junko Tominaga, a woman in her 50s, told AFP on the streets of Tokyo.
“I just don’t want Japan to tilt further to the right under Ishiba in terms of defence.”
Minoru Kitani, 46, said his “hopes for Ishiba aren’t so high”.
“But I agree with, and support, his belief that Japan needs to be protected better, made stronger and guarded against the threat of other countries,” he said.
While “a woman prime minister would’ve been good,” a win for Abe’s mentee Takaichi would not “have done much to herald a fresh start for Japan”.
During his term, Kishida has taken steps to double Japan’s defence spending, opening the door for military exports as the LDP seeks to revise the pacifist post-war constitution.
He welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to a G7 summit in Hiroshima and has strengthened Japan’s often testy ties with its neighbour South Korea.
But his rule was also tarnished by scandals, voter anger over rising prices and sliding poll ratings.
