Shinzo Abe (安倍 晋三, Abe Shinzō?, [abe ɕinzoː] (help·info); born
21 September 1954) was the 90th Prime Minister of Japan, elected by a special session of the National Diet on 26 September 2006. He
was Japan's youngest post-World War II prime minister and
the first born after the war. He resigned abruptly on 12 September 2007 after months of mounting political pressure.[2] He was replaced by Yasuo Fukuda, now the 91st Prime Minister of
Japan. [3]
Abe was born into a political family, and studied political science in Japan. He
has also studied in the United States. He worked in the private sector until 1982 when he
began the first of several government jobs. He entered politics in 1993 when he won an election in the Yamaguchi Prefecture. Abe served under Prime Ministers Yoshiro
Mori and Junichiro Koizumi, eventually becoming Koizumi's Chief Cabinet Secretary. Abe gained national fame for the strong stance he took against
North Korea, which eventually propelled him to presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Prime Minister's office. While expected to
follow the economic policies of his predecessor, Abe was also expected to improve the previously strained relations with the People's Republic of
China.
Early life
Abe was born in Nagato and soon moved to Tokyo. He attended Seikei elementary
school and Seikei high school[4]. He studied
political science at Seikei University,
graduating in 1977. He later moved to the United States and studied "English for foreign
students" and possibly political science at the University of Southern
California, though he received no degree.[5] In
April 1979, Abe began working for Kobe Steel.[6] He left the company in 1982 and pursued a number of governmental positions
including executive assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, private secretary to
the chairperson of the LDP General Council, and private secretary to the LDP secretary-general.[7]
Abe was born into a political family of significance. His grandfather,
Kan Abe, and father, Shintaro Abe, were both politicians.
His mother, Yoko Kishi,[8] is the daughter of
Nobusuke Kishi, who was prime minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960.
Member of House of Representatives
Shinzo Abe (right), as Chief Cabinet Secretary, meets with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
Robert Zoellick in January 2006.
Shinzo Abe was elected to the first district of Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1993
after his father's death in 1991, winning the most votes of any election in the prefecture's history. In 1999, he became Director
of the Social Affairs Division, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary in the Yoshiro Mori and
Junichiro Koizumi Cabinets from 2000–2003, after which he was appointed Secretary
General of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Abe is a member of the Mori Faction (formally, the Seiwa
Seisaku Kenkyū-kai) of the Liberal Democratic Party. This faction is headed by former prime minister Yoshiro Mori. Junichiro Koizumi was a member of the Mori Faction
prior to leaving it, as is the custom when accepting a high party post. From 1986 to 1991, Abe's father, Shintaro, headed the
same faction. The Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyū-kai has sixty members in the House of
Representatives and twenty six in the House of Councillors.
Abe was chief negotiator for the Japanese
government on behalf of the families of Japanese abductees taken to North Korea. As a part of the effort, he accompanied Koizumi to meet Kim
Jong-il in 2002. He gained national popularity when he demanded that Japanese abductees visiting Japan remain, in defiance
of North Korea.[9]
On October 31 2005, he was nominated Chief Cabinet Secretary of the fifth Koizumi Cabinet,
succeeding Hiroyuki Hosoda.
He was the leader of a project team within the LDP that did a survey on "excessive sexual education and gender-free
education." Among the items to which this team raised objections were anatomical
dolls and other curricular materials "not taking into consideration the age of children," school policies banning
traditional boys' and girls' festivals, and mixed-gender physical education.
The team sought to provide contrast to the Democratic Party of Japan, which it
alleged supported such policies.[10]
On September 20 2006, Abe was elected as the president of
the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.[11] His chief competitors for the position were Sadakazu Tanigaki and Taro Aso. Yasuo
Fukuda was a leading early contender but ultimately chose not to run. Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, to whose faction both Abe and Fukuda belonged, stated that the faction strongly leant toward
Abe.[12]
On September 26, Abe was elected prime minister with 339 of 475 votes in the Diet's
lower house and a firm majority in the upper house.[13]
Prime Minister
Abe, elected at age 52, in 2006, is the youngest prime minister since Fumimaro Konoe
in 1941.[14]
Domestic Policy
Economy
Abe has expressed a general commitment to the fiscal reforms instituted by his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi.[14] He
has taken some steps toward balancing the Japanese budget, such as appointing a tax policy expert, Koji Omi, as Minister of Finance. Omi has previously supported increases in the national consumption tax, although Abe has distanced himself from this policy and seeks to achieve much of his
budget balancing through spending cuts.[15]
Education
Since 1997, as the bureau chief of "Institute of Junior Assembly Members Who Think About The Outlook of Japan and History
Education," Abe supported the controversial Japanese Society for
History Textbook Reform and the New History Textbook. He denies the abduction of comfort women by Japanese troops, claims that a history textbook must contribute to the formation of
national consciousness, and cites South Korean criticism of the New History Textbook
as foreign interference in Japanese domestic affairs.[16]
In March 2007, Abe along with right-wing politicians have proposed a bill to encourage nationalism and a "love for one's
country and hometown" among the Japanese youth.[citation needed].
Imperial household
Abe holds conservative views in the Japanese imperial succession
controversy, and has said he opposes amending Japanese law to permit female blood lines to succeed the imperial family.
Succession of the imperial family by the female blood line should not be confused with ascension of a woman to the Chrysanthemum
Throne as Empress.[citation needed]
Foreign policy
North Korea
Shinzo Abe has generally taken a hard-line stance with respect to North Korea, especially
regarding the North Korean abductions of Japanese.
In 2002, negotiations between Japan and North Korea, Prime Minister Koizumi and General Secretary Kim Jong Il agreed to give abductees permission to visit Japan. A few weeks into the visit, the Japanese
government decided that the abductees would be restricted from returning to North Korea where their families live. Abe took
credit for this policy decision in his best-selling book, Toward a Beautiful Nation (美しい国へ, Utsukushii kuni e?). North Korea
criticized this Japanese decision as a breach of a diplomatic promise, and the negotiations aborted.
On July 7, 2006, North Korea conducted missile tests over the
Sea of Japan. Abe, as Chief Cabinet Secretary, cooperated with Foreign Minister
Taro Aso to seek sanctions against North Korea in the United Nations Security Council.[citation needed]
China, South Korea, and Taiwan
Abe has publicly recognized the need for improved relations with the People's
Republic of China and, along with Foreign Minister Taro Aso, seeks an eventual summit
meeting with Chinese paramount leader Hu Jintao.[17] Abe has also said that Sino-Japanese
relations should not continue to be based on emotions.[18]
On August 4, 2006, the Japanese media reported that Shinzo Abe
had visited the Yasukuni Shrine (a shrine that includes convicted Class A
war criminals in its honored war dead) in April of that year. Abe claimed the visit was of a
personal and non-official nature, as Former Prime Minister Koizumi has in the past. The Chinese and South Korean governments
expressed concern over the visit.[19][20] Both Abe and Foreign Minister Taro
Aso have stated that any visits to Yasukuni are a domestic matter.[14] In the end, Abe visited the Chidorigafuchi cemetery on August 15,
2007 and abstained from visiting the Yasukuni shrine.[21]
Moreover, Abe is respected among politicians in Taiwan who are part of the Pan-Green Coalition seeking Taiwanese independence.
Chen Shui-bian welcomed Abe's ministership[22]. Part of Abe's appeal in Taiwan is historical: his grandfather
Nobusuke Kishi was pro-Taiwan, and his great-uncle Eisaku
Sato was the last prime minister to visit Taiwan while in office.[22]
Abe has expressed the need to strengthen political, security, and economic ties within the Southeast Asian region. Abe has
increased its allies in its international campaign to counter the North Korean nuclear cards. So far, Abe has successfully
visited the Philippines and Indonesia, and although China is not within the Southeast Asian region, Japan has also sought for
their support.
India
Shinzo Abe's three day visit to India in August 2007 is said to be the start of a new Asian alliance. Abe proposed a 'Broader
Asia" alliance of democracies as a counterweight to China's growing influence in the realm of economics and military power. Abe's
initiative is seen to be the "fifth" bilateral link in this emerging scenario whereas the US-Australia, US-Japan,
Japan-Australia, and US-India links are already established. A sixth link of the India-Australia is said to be the logical
corollary in an attempt to create a new quadrilateral of military co-operation which China has labeled the "Asian Nato".
Abe's India foreign policy is pragmatic, as it is based on boosting Japan's resurgent economic indicators, while gaining a
crucial partner in Asia. India, is alone amongst all major Asian countries, not to have a history of serious military dispute
with Japan. Most Indians view Japan as a benefactor of the Indian freedom struggle during World War II (it supported Subhas
Chandra Bose a.k.a. Netaji and the Indian
National Army) and as a pacifist country. This coupled with the lone dissenting judgement by the Indian judge
Radhabinod Pal during the War Crime tribunal of Japanese Class
A war criminals and the cultural impact of Buddhism (which originated in India) has
endeared India to the Japanese.
Defense
Abe also seeks to revise or broaden the interpretation of Article 9
of the Constitution of Japan in order to permit Japan to maintain de jure
military forces. He has stated that "we are reaching the limit in narrowing down differences
between Japan's security and the interpretation of our constitution."[23]
Like his predecessors, he supports the Japanese alliance with the United
States.[13]
Cabinets
Abe's first cabinet was announced on September 26, 2006.
The only minister retained in his position from the previous Koizumi cabinet was Foreign Minister Taro
Aso, who had been one of Abe's competitors for the LDP presidency. In addition to the cabinet positions existing under
Koizumi, Abe created five new "advisor" positions. Shinzo Abe reshuffled his cabinet on August 27, 2007.[24]
Notes:
- Toshikatsu Matsuoka committed suicide on May 28,
2007, hours before being due for questioning in connection to allegations of misappropriation of
government funds. He was replaced by Norihiko Akagi, who himself resigned on
August 1, 2007 due to suspicions of similar conduct.
Masatoshi Wakabayashi was appointed Agriculture Minister, which he served
concurrently with his post as Environment Minister.
- Masatoshi Wakabayashi was appointed Agriculture Minister on September 3, 2007, following Takehiko
Endo's resignation due to a financial scandal.
- Prior to Abe's administration, this post was known as "Director General of the Defense Agency". In December 2006, its status
was elevated to ministry level.
- Fumio Kyuma resigned on July 3, 2007 for controversial remarks made about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. He was replaced by Yuriko Koike, then National Security Advisor.
- Yoshimi Watanabe was appointed Minister of State for Administrative Reform upon the
December 28, 2007 resignation of Genichiro Sata. He served in this capacity concurrently with his role as Minister of State for Regulatory
Reform.
Unpopularity and sudden resignation
-
After Agricultural Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka committed suicide, Abe's approval rating remained below 30% for months. Abe's
ruling Liberal Democratic Party suffered great losses in the
upper house election. Another agricultural minister,
Norihiko Akagi, who was involved in a political funding scandal, resigned after the
election.
In an attempt to revive his administration, Abe announced a new cabinet on August 27,
2007. However, the new agricultural minister Takehiko Endo,
involved in a finance scandal, resigned only 7 days later.
On September 12, 2007, only three days after a new
parliamentary session had begun, Abe announced his intention to resign his position as prime
minister at an unscheduled press conference.[25][26][27] Abe said his unpopularity was hindering the passage of an anti-terrorism
law, involving among other things Japan's continued military presence in Afghanistan. Party
officials also said the embattled prime minister was suffering from poor health. On September
26, 2007 Abe officially ended his term as Yasuo Fukuda
became the new Prime Minister of Japan.
Personal life
View on history
Since 1997, as the bureau chief of the 'Institute of Junior Assembly Members Who Think About the Outlook of Japan and History
Education', Abe led the Japanese Society for History Textbook
Reform. On his official homepage [28] he questions
the extent to which coercion was applied toward the comfort women, dismissing Korean
"revisionism" as foreign interference in Japanese domestic affairs. In a Diet session on October
6, 2006, Abe revised his statement regarding comfort women, and said that he accepted the
report issued in 1993 by the sitting cabinet secretary, Yohei Kono, where the Japanese
government officially acknowledged the issue. Later in the session, Abe stated his belief that Class A war criminals are not criminals under Japan's domestic law
[29].
In a meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee in February 2006, Shinzo Abe said, 'There is a problem as to how to define
aggressive wars; we cannot say it is decided academically',[30] and 'It is not the business of the government to decide how to define the last world
war. I think we have to wait for the estimation of historians'.[30] However, on a TV program in July 2006 [31] he denied that Manchukuo was a puppet state.
Abe published a book called Toward a Beautiful Nation (美しい国へ, Utsukushii
kuni e?) in July 2006,
which became a bestseller in Japan. In this book, he claims that Class A war criminals (those
charged with crimes against peace) who were adjudicated in the Tokyo Tribunal after World War II
were not war criminals in the eye of domestic law.[citation needed] The Korean and Chinese governments, as well as noted academics and
commentators, have voiced concern about Abe's historical views. [32][33][34]
In March 2007, in response to a United States Congress resolution by
Mike Honda, Abe denied any government coercion in the recruitment of Comfort Women during World War II[35], in line with a statement made almost ten years prior regarding the same issue,
in which Abe voiced his opposition to the inclusion of the subject of military prostitution in several school textbooks and then
denied any coercion in the "narrow" sense of the word, environmental factors notwithstanding.[36]
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, then Chief Cabinet Secretary, with a group of students from
Harvard University. His future Chief Cabinet Secretary
Yasuhisa
Shiozaki (himself a graduate of Harvard University) is standing to his left.
However, it provoked negative reaction from Asian and Western countries, for example, The New York Times editorial on March 6, 2007, “What part of “Japanese Army sex slaves” does Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, have so much trouble
understanding and apologizing for? ... These were not commercial brothels. Force, explicit and implicit, was used in recruiting
these women. What went on in them was serial rape, not prostitution. The Japanese Army’s
involvement is documented in the government’s own defense files. A senior Tokyo official more or less apologized for this
horrific crime in 1993.... Yesterday, he grudgingly acknowledged the 1993 quasi apology, but only as part of a pre-emptive
declaration that his government would reject the call, now pending in the United States Congress, for an official apology.
America isn’t the only country interested in seeing Japan belatedly accept full responsibility. Korea and China are also
infuriated by years of Japanese equivocations over the issue.[37] A Washington Post editorial "Shinzo Abe's Double Talk" on March
24, 2007 also criticized him that "he's passionate about Japanese victims of North Korea --
and blind to Japan's own war crimes."[38]
Response to mass media
The Asahi Shimbun also accused Abe and Shoichi Nakagawa of censoring a 2001 NHK program concerning "The Women's
International War Crimes Tribunal" [39]. The "tribunal"
was a private committee to adjudicate 'comfort women', sexual slaves of the Japanese army;
about 5,000 people including 64 casualties from Japan and abroad attended. The committee members, who claimed to be specialists
of international law, claimed that Emperor Hirohito
and the Japanese government were responsible for the use of comfort women. The TV program, however, did not mention the full name
of the tribunal and keywords such as 'Japanese troops' or 'sexual slavery', and it also cut the sight of the tribunal, the host
grouping, statements of the organizer, and the judgement itself. Instead, it presented criticism against the tribunal by a
right-wing academic and his statement that 'there was no abduction of sex slaves and
they were prostitutes' [40].
On the day following the Asahi Shimbun report, Akira Nagai, the chief producer and
primary person responsible for the program, held a press conference and ensured the report of the Asahi Shimbun. Abe stated that
the content "had to be broadcasted from a neutral point of view" and 'what I did is not to give political pressure.' Abe said "It
was a political terrorism by Asahi Shimbun and it was tremendously clear that they had
intention to inhume me and Mr.Nakagawa politically, and it is also clear that it was complete fabrication." He also characterized
the tribunal as a "mock trial" and raised objection to the presence of North Korean
prosecutors singling them out as agents of North Korean government. [41] Abe's actions in the NHK incident have been criticized as being both
illegal (violating the Broadcast Law) and unconstitutional (violating the Japanese Constitution).[42] A news program aired on TBS on July 21, 2006 about a secret biological weapons troop of Imperial Japanese Army called 'Unit
731', along with a picture panel of Shinzo Abe, who has no relation to the report. Abe said in a press conference, "It is
a truly big problem if they want to injure my political life." The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications inquired into fact
relevance and stated that there had been an omission in editing the TV program fairly, making an administrative direction of
exceptional stringent warning based upon Broadcast Law. On October 24, 2006, a report emerged that Abe's new administration had called on
the NHK to "pay attention" to the North Korean
abductees issue. [43] Critics, some even within
Abe's own LDP party, charged that the government was violating freedom of expression by meddling in the affairs of the public
broadcaster. In December 2006, it was revealed that former Prime-Minister Junichiro
Koizumi's government, in which Abe was Chief Cabinet Secretary, had influenced town hall style meetings, during which paid
performers would ask government officials favorable questions.[44]
References
- ^ http://www.sinseiren.org/ouen/kokugikon.html; http://press.jodo.or.jp/press/2003/03/news.html
- ^ "Prime Minister Abe announces resignation", The Japan
Times, 2007-09-13. Retrieved on 2007-09-13.
- ^ http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/09/24/japan.fukuda.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch
- ^ [1]
- ^ Politicians pointing fingers over fake degrees should watch out for stones, The Mainichi Daily News, February 5, 2004.
- ^ Profile: Shinzo Abe BBC News
- ^ Shinzo Abe the Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe's official website
- ^ http://www.jpop.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=306&Itemid=2] (Kishi Yōko)
- ^ The Abe
Enigma Time Magazine
- ^ Kodomo wa shakai no takara, kuni no takara desu jimin.jp (LDP site)
- ^ Shinzo Abe to Succeed Koizumi as Japan's Next Prime Minister Bloomberg
- ^ Mori faction unease mounts /
Ex-premier stumped over Abe, Fukuda and party leadership race Daily Yomiuri
- ^ a b Abe elected as new Japan premier, BBC News. Accessed
26 September 2006.
- ^ a b c Abe
Is Chosen as Japan's Youngest Leader in 65 Years, Bloomberg, September 26, 2006.
- ^ Japan's Abe Unexpectedly Names Omi Finance Minister, Bloomberg, September 26,
2006.
- ^ 日本歴史教科書問題, s-abe.or.jp, April 16, 2004.
- ^ New Japan PM vows
strong China ties, CNN, September 26, 2006.
- ^ Japan's Abe Says Talks Needed to Improve Ties With China, South Korea VOA News
- ^ Abe visited Yasukuni in
mid-April/Unannounced visit likely to draw protests Daily Yomiuri Online
- ^ China expresses concern over
reported Abe visit to Yasukuni Yahoo! Asia News
- ^ Japan marks end of WWII; Abe skips Yasukuni visit, but one minister, Koizumi go; Abe's Cabinet to steer clear of
Yasukuni on surrender day
- ^ a b 安倍新政権に期待 親台派の印象強く, Mainichi Shimbun, September
26, 2006.
- ^ New Japanese Leader
Looks to Expand Nation's Military, NewsHour, September 20, 2006.
- ^ Abe attempts to save
his LDP with Cabinet reshuffle, Japan News Review, August 27, 2007.
- ^ Abe steps down
as prime minister, The Mainichi Daily News, September 12, 2007.
- ^ "Embattled Japanese PM
stepping down" CBC News. Accessed on September 12, 2007.
- ^ "Japanese prime minister resigns" BCB News. Accessed on September 12, 2007.
- ^ http://www.s-abe.or.jp/poritics/textbook/textbook.htm
- ^ Abe clarifies views on 'history issue,' reaffirms apologies, Daily Yomiuri,
October 7, 2006.
- ^ a b Official minutes of
the Budget Committee (2006-02-18).
- ^ http://www.jcp.or.jp/akahata/aik4/2005-08-01/2005080104_01_0.html
- ^ Abe's "normal"
Japan, ZNet, Oct. 5, 2006.
- ^ History Redux: Japan’s Textbook Battle Reignites, Japan Policy Research Institute
Working Paper No. 107 (June 2005).
- ^ Japan's difficult
drive to be a 'beautiful country', The Hankyoreh, September 2, 2006.
- ^ http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070302a9.html The Japan Times March 2, 2007
- ^ http://www.japan-press.co.jp/pdf/special-2006-november.pdfPDF (87.8 KiB) Japan Press Weekly Special
Issue - November 2006.
- ^ New York Times, " No comfort” Published: March
6, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/opinion/06tues3.html, accessed March 8, 2007
- ^ Shinzo Abe's Double Talk, The Washington Post, March 24, 2007.
- ^ LDP pressure led to cuts in NHK show, Asahi Shimbun, January 12, 2005.
- ^ VAWW Net - "What
is the Women's Tribunal?", retrieved Sept 29, 2007.
- ^ 安倍晋三氏の事実歪曲発言について, Violence Against Women in War Network Japan, January 17, 2005.
- ^ War and Japan's Memory Wars, ZNet, January 29,
2005.
- ^ Japan to
order more public media coverage of North Korea abductees, International Herald Tribune, October
24, 2006.
- ^ Japan's Leaders Rigged Voter Forums, a Government Report Says, New York Times, December
14, 2006.
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