Sandeep Dixit
Although Shinzo Abe’s first term as Prime Minister of Japan in 2006–7 was indistinguishable, he showed his ultra-conservative tendencies in the plane of foreign policy by confronting China on the Senkaku Islands, even if the move was aimed at an even more conservative politician. To be defeated Abe was also the pivot of an unexpected combination of democracies from the East and the West—a joint naval exercise featuring the US, Japan, Australia and India.
Joint exercise by four or ‘quad’ was an idea ahead of its time. China was not then as all-black villain as it is now and it could then influence all participants to shut down the initiative. Beijing remained unrepentant and expansionist, forcing the Quad to revive an initiative that is now at a critically transformative stage.
Much will be said about how Abe guided Japan to closer ties with India. But readers close to the politics of East Asia are aware that whether it was Abe or anyone else, Japan was bound to follow the lead set by the US in forging closer ties with India. Japanese financing for the bullet train and industrial corridors was an act of philanthropy, rather than an act of unloading surplus foreign exchange reserves.
Once in 2007, when his stomach problems flared up, Abe again shrugged. His candidacy for the PM post was strengthened for the second time when a succession of five PMs followed him after his resignation in 2007. No PM managed to stay in office for two years.
Abe’s pitch for the post of prime minister was supported by Nippon Kagi, an organization of around 40,000 that holds extreme right-wing views and does not think Japan was wrong during World War II. This included modifying Article 9 of the pacifist Japanese Constitution to allow Japan to maintain military forces.
After becoming PM once in 2012, he remained in office for the next eight years until a stomach ailment forced him to step down as PM once again. His party is poised to secure a super majority in the coming elections. This would help replace the constitution and allow Japan to have a normal military force. If that happens, it’s ironic that the makers of that move wouldn’t be around to enjoy the moment.