Japan votes for strong government under Kishida and this will shape strategic equation in Indo-Pacific

SHARE:

Japan's ruling coalition led by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has managed to retain a comfortable majority in the powerful lower House of Representatives of the National Diet following the 31 October general elections.

With this win, Japan's PM Fumio Kishida, known to have prepared to become Japan's prime minister longer than any other to hold the office, has secured more than 233 seats in the 465-member house — a parliamentary majority benchmark required to govern effectively even without its primary coalition partner, the Komeito. The LDP, however, did suffer few prominent losses including the defeat of its secretary-general and No. 2, Akira Amari, who stared defeat in his district in the Kanagawa Prefecture. With the LDP winning 261 seats along with the Komeito scoring 32, the ruling coalition now stands at a total of 293 seats. The results are not just a referendum vote on the LDP's recent decision of choosing Kishida as its leader, but also enhance Kishida's own influence within the party, thus proving instrumental in determining the next course of his policy priorities and implementation of reforms.

The LDP went into elections at a time when its government had come under heavy criticism for the unsystematic and slipshod handling of the pandemic. The inadequate crisis management and communication during the fifth COVID-19 wave across Japan became former PM Suga's undoing to a large extent, thereby marking his administration's abject failure. Amid a rapidly declining support base within the ruling LDP and among the Japanese public, it had fast become a reality that, without a change in leadership, the LDP's prospects in the upcoming general elections would be meager.

In this backdrop, these election results have come in as an unheralded surprise for many, given that numerous exit polls predicted that LDP would struggle to win, and would be in need to heavily rely on the Komeito to reach the majority mark. On the contrary, with these numbers, the LDP under Kishida now remains firmly in control of all standing committees to steer the legislative processes. While Kishida acknowledged that he was 'encouraged' by the ruling coalition's performance and will "build on this result in running the government and the Diet", he credited the victory of the ruling bloc as the "will of the Japanese people".

This election has not just been crucial for newly sworn-in PM Kishida and his leadership, but is also being viewed as a public vote on nine years of governance of the LDP under Kishida's predecessors, Yoshihide Suga, and the far more prominent Shinzo Abe — the longest-serving Japanese PM with an uninterrupted run of nearly eight years in the PM's chair beginning 2012. With an estimated 55.93 percent voter turnout, Japan's voters have apparently chosen to maintain political stability under the LDP-led government.

The LDP, notably, has nurtured its core competency to preserve power as the ruling party, dominating post-war politics for most of the past seven decades in Japan. With this latest election verdict, the apprehensions accompanying Suga's departure and Kishida's rise have been trampled. The LDP has managed to avert the rising perception prior to the elections whether Japan would return to a pattern of 'revolving-door prime ministers' with one-year tenures that were characteristic of Japan's politics before 2012. Having secured a strong verdict, Kishida finds himself in firm control to implement his economic and national security agenda despite having a difficult national list of items at hand, such as spurring economic growth under his signature 'new capitalism' vision, to managing a possible sixth COVID-19 wave across Japan.

The power of Japan's Prime Minister over the country’s foreign policy formulation got significantly reinforced under the Abe administration when it established a National Security Council in 2013 to centralise the power of security policymaking in the hands of the top political leadership. Incidentally, current PM Kishida holds the claim to the record of being Japan's longest-serving post-war foreign minister in Abe's government from 2012–17.

Therefore, while the domestic debates on competing policy approaches to national security and national identity will continue among domestic constituencies of Japan, along with clashing political visions and factionalism within the LDP, the larger strategic realities that confront Japan's national security interests today should not be compromised on account of the various political ideologies and camps existing within the LDP.

Kishida, a non-controversial moderate, leading the LDP, stands at a delicate crossroads with a very thin line dividing domestic politics from the overall strategic thinking, including debates on defense policy and balance of regional military power. The LDP leadership, sooner or later, will have to push for efforts to fortify the legislative foundations for Japan's security to enable it to provide seamless responses to all levels of crises.

Fumio Kishida should not appear to engage with China at the cost of seeming to bow to it on critical strategic and economic issues affecting Japan. By securing a big boost in military spending and taking a harder line on China, Kishida and the LDP aim to double Japan's defence spending to around 2 percent of the gross domestic product to deal with China and North Korea, thereby signalling the course of the direction that they intend to tread upon.

As 21st century Asian politics and security challenges become far more complex and precarious, Japan can ill afford to demonstrate, even symbolically, the political vulnerability of a weak or meek prime ministership. In this light, Kishida will now face a tough balancing act of coming to terms with growing domestic concerns about China’s predatory security posture and policies, the centrality of its security alliance with Washington, and developing key equations with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific — all along keeping Japan's economic graph on the upswing by redistributing wealth under his 'new capitalism' plan.

The writer is a Senior Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) in Tokyo. Views expressed are personal.

Also Read

[TRENDING]_$type=ticker$count=9$cols=4$cate=0$color=#0096a9$sp=3500

[RECENT]_$type=list$author=hide$comment=hide$va=0

Name

'Badhaai Do' movie,1,'The Kerala Story',2,'Zeeshan Maggie Point',1,"kerala story",1,@preganest,1,100W SuperVOOC Charging,1,90s actress,1,Access to Diabetes Care,1,accident,2,Actor Salman Khan,1,Actress Priyanka Chopra,1,Air India,1,Air Quality,1,Alia Bhatt,1,All-Round Performance,1,Amazon,1,Anushka Sharma,1,App-Based Taxis,1,Arjun Tendulkar,1,Arshia Goswami,1,Article,4,Atlee Kumar,1,back pain,1,Bageshwar Dham,1,bank holiday schedule,1,bank offers,1,Barbed wire,1,BH registration,1,BH-Series,1,Bhopal,3,Bhupesh Baghel,1,Bike Rider Agastya Chauhan,1,birthday,2,BJP,2,Bobby Deol,1,bodyguard missbehave,1,BOE screen.,1,Bollywood,2,Bollywood Actor,1,Bollywood Couple,1,Bollywood Diwali,1,Bollywood Journey,1,Bollywood Stars,1,borrowing,1,Box Office Collection,1,Boxing Champion Mary Kom,1,bribery allegations,1,budget.,1,Bundelkhand,1,Business,24,camera setup,1,Career,1,Career Growth,1,Career Setbacks,1,Cash for Query Case,1,Celebrity Celebrations,1,Celebrity Diwali,1,Chhatarpur,1,Chhattisgarh Election,1,Chinese Stocks,1,CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan,6,codecanyon,3,Comedian,1,Congress,2,Congress MLA Omkar Singh Markam,1,Controversial Movie,1,converting to Islam,1,Counterclaims,1,couples goal,1,creativity,1,Cricket,1,Crime news,1,Deadlifts 60 kg,1,Deendayal Antyodaya Rasoi Kendras,1,Deepika Padukone,1,Defamatory Posters,1,defense personnel,1,Delhi airport,1,Delhi Fire Service,1,Delhi metro,1,Delhi Police,1,Delhi Pollution,2,Development Scheme,1,Devotees,1,Dhanteras,1,Dhanteras 2023,1,Dharmendra,1,Dhirendra Shastri,2,Diabetes Awareness,1,Diabetes Epidemic,1,Diabetes Prevention,1,Diamond jewelry,1,Diesel Vehicles,1,Disastrous Plastic Surgeries,1,discounts,1,District hospitals,1,Diwali 2023,4,Diwali a National Holiday,1,Diwali Announcement,1,Diwali bank holidays,1,Diwali Celebration,1,Diwali deal,1,Diwali Gift,1,Diwali Moments,1,Diwali offers,1,Donatella Versace,1,DPR,4,Dubai woman,1,early signs,1,Earnings Growth,1,Education / Employment,3,Eid Party,1,Eight-Year-Old,1,Election Commission,1,Election Promises,1,election year,1,Elections 2024,2,Enchanting Moments,1,Entertainment,21,Environment,1,Environmental Measures,1,Family Celebration,1,Fan Frenzy,1,Fan Reactions,1,Fan Reactions.,1,Fashion,1,Female Engineer Uber Driver,1,Festive deals,1,Film 'Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan',1,Filmfare Awards 2023,1,Filmy Proposal,1,Financial Benefits,1,financial transactions,1,Fire Incidents,1,Firecrackers,1,Fireworks,1,first water metro,1,fiscal deficit,1,Food,2,free earbuds,1,free food grain scheme,1,Gajakesari Rajyoga,1,Gemini,1,Global Health,1,Global Market Outlook.,1,Gold savings,1,Goldman Sachs,1,Government,1,government employees,1,Government spending,1,Govinda,1,Griha Lakshmi Yojana,1,Hakuto-R,1,health sector,1,Healthcare Awareness.,1,Hero,1,Hindu Heritage.,1,Historic Revival,1,Hong Kong,1,iconic career.,1,IIFA 2023,1,IIT Indore,1,Inauguration,1,India,4,India news,4879,Indian festivals,1,Indian Muslim,1,Indian news,8,Indian road tax,1,Indian Shares,1,Indore,3,Indore court,1,instragram,1,Insulin Discovery,1,Investment Opportunities,1,IPL,1,IPL 2023,2,IT,1,Jagannath Puri Rath Yatra,1,Jammu and Kashmir,1,Jewelry discounts,1,Jiah Khan,1,Job,1,Kamal Nath,1,Kanya Vivah-Nikah Yojana,1,Karan Kundra,1,Kareena Kapoor,1,Katrina Kaif,1,Kiara Advani,1,Kidney failure,1,kidney health,1,kidney issues,1,kidney symptoms,1,KL Rahul.,1,Kochi,1,Krishna Priya,1,Kupwara,1,Latest news,1,leaked design,1,legal inquiry,1,Life Changing tips,1,Lifestyle,12,Lifstyle,1,Lok Sabha Ethics Committee,1,loss of cat,1,Love Jihad,1,Love Story,1,Lucknow,1,Lucky Zodiac Signs,1,Maa Kali',1,Madhya Pradesh,23,Mahakal lok,1,Mahakaleshwar temple,1,Mahtari Vandan Yojana,1,Mahua Moitra,1,main,19,Make in India,1,Man naked and garlanded with shoes,1,Mantralya,1,Market Trends,1,Mata Sharda Temple,1,Material Happiness,1,medical attention.,1,Men wearing skirt,1,Menstrual Hygiene Day 2023,1,Mexican Giant Turtle,1,Mir,1,MIT,1,mobile phone,1,modular kitchens,1,Moon,1,Movie Premiere,1,MP Election 2023,1,MP Weather Update,2,multi-state travel,1,Mumbai,2,Munawwar Farooqui,1,National,162,National Paper Airplane Day 2023,1,national security,1,Navlakha,1,Neelam Kothari,1,Netherlands,1,News,1,Nick Jonas,1,Northeastern University,1,Nothing Phone (1),1,ODI Wicket,1,Ola,1,One Nation One Number Plate,1,OnePlus 11 5G,1,opposition members,1,Osho,1,Paramilitary Forces,1,Parenthood,1,Pennsylvania,1,Personal Life Controversies,1,pet parrots,1,plants mango saplings,1,PM Narendra Modi,3,politics,4,Pollution Crisis,1,Pradeep Mishra,1,pricing,1,private companies,1,Priyanka Chopra,1,Profession,1,Prosperity,1,PTI – The Siasat Daily,3,Rachit Agarwal,1,Ranbir Kapoor,1,Rashid rover,1,Realme GT 5 Pro,1,Realme Narzo N53,1,record-breaking century,1,regional variations,1,relationships,1,Religious Significance,1,renewable energy sector,1,Reserve Bank of India,1,Revival Efforts,1,rib pain,1,Romantic Photos,1,Royal deaths,1,Rs 70 lakh,1,Russia Ukraine ongoing conflict,1,Sadar Bazaar,1,Safety Measures.,1,Sagar,1,Sagittarius,1,salman khan,3,Sanatan Dharma,1,Sara Tendulkar,1,Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Park,1,Shah Rukh Khan,1,Shah Rukh Khan's Airport Video goes viral,1,Shalini's Unconventional Divorce Photoshoot,1,Shubam Gill,1,Shubham Gill,1,Sidharth Malhotra.,1,Sir Frederick Banting,1,Six-month-old Infant Dies,1,smartphone,2,Snapdragon processor,1,Snapdragon processor.,1,Social Dynamics,1,social media,2,Social Media Reactions,1,Sooraj Pancholi,1,South Actresses,1,South Africa,1,South Indian Cinema,1,South Indian Comedian,1,specifications,2,Spending husband's money,1,Sports,17,stomach pain,1,storage options,1,Structural Growth,1,subsidies,1,Summer Season,1,Supreme Court,1,Sushant Singh Rajput,1,T20 World Cup,1,Tarek Fatah,1,Taurus,1,tax collection,1,Tech,5,Tejasswi Prakash,1,Temples,1,Tensions,1,Theater Chaos,1,Tiger 3,1,Tilak Nagar,1,Top jewelers.,1,Transport Department,1,Trending,3,Trinamool Congress,1,tweet,1,Uber,1,Ujjain,1,Ukraine Defence Ministry,1,University of Glasgow,1,urban housing,1,US-Canada Border,1,US-India Visa,1,vehicle registration.,1,Vicky Kaushal,1,video viral,2,Viral news,1,Viral Sexy Video,1,viral video,4,Virat Kohli,1,Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir,2,Water crisis,1,Wedding Anniversary,1,WiFi,1,Wildlife,1,Wired Food Combinations,1,Women Empowerment,1,World Diabetes Day,1,World News,2194,youth,1,youtuber,1,
ltr
item
Japan votes for strong government under Kishida and this will shape strategic equation in Indo-Pacific
Japan votes for strong government under Kishida and this will shape strategic equation in Indo-Pacific
ASE News
https://www.asenews.page/2021/11/japan-votes-for-strong-government-under.html
https://www.asenews.page/
https://www.asenews.page/
https://www.asenews.page/2021/11/japan-votes-for-strong-government-under.html
true
8343353446356446311
UTF-8
Loaded All Posts Not found any posts VIEW ALL Readmore Reply Cancel reply Delete By Home PAGES POSTS View All RECOMMENDED FOR YOU LABEL ARCHIVE SEARCH ALL POSTS Not found any post match with your request Back Home Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat January February March April May June July August September October November December Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec just now 1 minute ago $$1$$ minutes ago 1 hour ago $$1$$ hours ago Yesterday $$1$$ days ago $$1$$ weeks ago more than 5 weeks ago Followers Follow THIS PREMIUM CONTENT IS LOCKED STEP 1: Share to a social network STEP 2: Click the link on your social network Copy All Code Select All Code All codes were copied to your clipboard Can not copy the codes / texts, please press [CTRL]+[C] (or CMD+C with Mac) to copy Table of Content