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Japan has a new prime minister. Tokyo’s parliament elected former cabinet minister Yoshihide Suga as the new head of government on Wednesday with the votes of the ruling coalition. Suga, 71, was a close confidant and right-hand man to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had resigned after a long record period of nearly eight years due to health problems.
Patrick Welter
Japan political and business correspondent based in Tokyo.
Suga will present the new cabinet in Tokyo on Wednesday. According to preliminary reports in the Japanese media, the new head of government underlines the continuity with the previous government in the selection of personnel. In recent days he had already emphasized on important economic policy issues that he wanted to maintain the line of his predecessor known as Abenomics.
Important positions in the cabinet remain unchanged according to media reports. Finance Minister Taro Aso remains in office, as does Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. Defense Minister Taro Kono becomes Minister of State for Administrative Reform. On the one hand, that’s a demotion. On a positive note, Kono, 57, will be responsible for the reform with which Suga wants to break the silo of thought between ministries and bring more effectiveness to the government apparatus. Suga has announced such a reform as a priority. The cabinet minister and thus Suga’s successor in his previous post will be 64-year-old Katsunobu Kato, who recently served as the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare in the Abe government.
An Abe named Kishi becomes Defense Minister
According to media reports, the new Defense Minister will be Nobuo Kishi, the younger brother of former Prime Minister Abe. Kishi adopts a conservative position similar to that of his brother and in previous statements did not rule out the possibility that the country is armed with nuclear weapons. Kishi was elected to parliament for the first time in 2004. He served for a time as Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defense and in various capacities in the Liberal Democratic Party.
With the first ministerial position for the 61-year-old politician, the political influence of the family of the previous prime minister will be maintained. Kishi was adopted by his maternal uncle and therefore bears the surname Kishi, as does he and Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, who was interned on suspicion of a war crime after World War II and ruled Japan as the First Minister from 1957 to 1960. These adoptions were previously common in Japan to obtain surnames or business addresses. Kishi and Abe’s great-uncle Eisaku Sato was also prime minister.
Abe’s Successor Found
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Japan’s prime minister-designate has been elected
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Video: AFP, Image: Reuters
There is speculation in Japan when Suga will schedule a new election for the lower house, which must take place no later than October 2021. In recent days, powerful Finance Minister Aso, ahead of the Tokyo Olympics next summer , declared it would be appropriate to hold elections sooner rather than later. Suga has indicated as a condition for the new elections that the number of new infections with the corona virus is decreasing enough.
