Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead on Friday (8) at a campaign rally ahead of Sunday’s elections (2012 ) in Japan to the country’s upper house of parliament.
The event shocked Japan, which has extremely strict gun control laws and one of the lowest rates of violence
Abe, who was years old, was a key political figure in Japan and remained highly influential after leaving the post of prime minister, in 2020. Japan has maintained Abe’s pragmatic foreign and security policies and will continue to be a strong ally of the United States in dealing with Chinese and North Korean threats.
Abe was shot twice while delivering a speech from campaigning for a candidate in the Japan House of Councilors elections and later died in hospital.
The shooter was detained by the police. The first reports indicated that the weapon used in the crime was a shotgun, but later it was discovered that the weapon was handmade.
The shooter reportedly told the police that he was dissatisfied with Abe, but did not harbor hatred against him. their political positions. Police also discovered several explosives in his home.
Strict gun control
In 2021 ), Japan, which has a population of 125 million inhabitants, recorded only one firearm-related death. Shotguns and air rifles can be purchased under the country’s strict gun control laws, but not rifles or revolvers.
Candidates to own a gun must attend a full-day class, take a written test, undergo a mental health assessment at a hospital, have their criminal records checked, and the police interview their family members. Weapons must be stored in a wall-mounted locker with three locks and ammunition must be stored separately. When a firearm owner dies, his relatives must hand them over to the authorities.
Abe’s impressive legacy
In his time as the first Prime Minister, Abe implemented a visionary foreign policy, strengthened Japan’s alliance with the United States, and was decisive against threats to regional security. Abe’s successors continued his policies and he remained an active member and partisan leader within the Diet, Japan’s national legislature.
He was Japan’s youngest post-war prime minister. war between 2007 and 2007 and then, from 2012 to 2020, was the longest-lived leader in the country. On both occasions, he resigned due to health problems stemming from ulcerative colitis.
His longevity during his second term provided stability, policy coherence, and consistency, which, in turn, allowed Japan to play a leading role. more prominent and assertive role in the region and on the world stage.
Abe created a grand strategy for Japan, including establishing the theoretical foundations for the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategies and the Quad, strategic security forum that brings together Japan, Australia, India and the United States. Both concepts were adopted and adapted to the US strategy.
Abe also enhanced diplomatic, economic and security ties with Southeast Asian nations, Australia, France, India and the United Kingdom through a series of agreements and, in some cases, joint military exercises.
Abe also had a significant impact on Japan’s security posture. Among other accomplishments, he instituted Japan’s first National Security Council and National Security Strategy, increased the country’s defense budget, implemented changes to increase defenses against China’s growing territorial incursions, and overcame significant internal resistance to allow Japan to play an important role in regional and global security by exercising collective self-defense.
He implemented ambitious policies, known as “Abenomics”, to boost the Japanese economy after decades of sluggish growth. .
A three-pronged approach, Abenomics has combined increased spending on infrastructure, free monetary policy and structural reforms. After the United States withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Abe took the lead in trade agreement negotiations, creating the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Abe also negotiated trade agreements with the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom.
What’s Next?
Some might speculate that Abe’s murder could mark a return to the tumultuous Japan’s past of political violence from the 1960 and pre-war era. But Japan is quite different today, and the political landscape is likely to remain stable. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that the elections for the upper house will take place with greater security.
The tragic event surprised Japan, but it will not change its foreign and security policies. Kishida reaffirmed the country’s realistic lines in these areas during US President Joe Biden’s visit to Tokyo in May and during the first trilateral meeting in nearly five years of leaders from the US, South Korea and Japan last month.
Kishida declared his intention to expand Japan’s security responsibilities in the Indo-Pacific. In recent years, Tokyo has increased its military capabilities and security cooperation and military exercises with Australia and other regional partners, as well as France and the United Kingdom.
Kishida argues that Japan increase its defense budget, likely doubling spending in the area to 2% of GDP, as well as developing retaliatory capabilities against Chinese and North Korean attacks.
Tokyo is increasingly concerned about a possible Chinese attack on Taiwan and has been studying possible military responses, including protecting US warships and military planes that would come to defend the island.
Bruce Klingner is Senior Researcher on Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Asian Studies.
© 2022 The Daily Signal. Published with permission. Original in English.