Abe stands down as Japanese PM as ‘ chronic illness’ returns
● Longest- serving premier quits, sparking race to replace him
Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longestserving prime minister, says he is re signing because a chronic illness has resurfaced.
Concerns about his health began over the summer and grew this month when he visited a Tokyo hospital two weeks in a row for unspecified checkups.
He has acknowledged having ulcerative colitis since he was a teenager and has said the condition was controlled with treatment.
He said yesterday: “It is gut wrenching to have to leave my job before accomplishing my goals,” mentioning his failure to resolve the issue of Japanese people abducted years ago by North Korea and a territorial dispute with Russia.
He said his health problem was under control until earlier this year but was found to have relapsed in June when he had an annual check- up.
He is now on a new treatment that requires IV injections, he said. While there is some improvement, there is no guarantee that it will cure his condition and so he decided to step down.
His health concerns came as his support ratings plunged due t o his handling of t he coronavirus pandemic and its severe impact on the economy, on top of a stream of political scandals.
Mr Abe, whose term ends in September next year, is expected to stay on until a new party leader is elected and formally approved by parliament.
In a country once known for its short- tenured premiers, his departure will mark the end of an unusual era of stability that saw him strike up strong ties with US president Donald Trump even as Mr Abe’s ultranationalism riled the Koreas and China.
While he pulled Japan out of recession, the economy has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic, and he has f ailed t o achieve his cherished goal to formally rewrite the US- drafted pacifist constitution because of poor public support.
Mr Abe is a political blue blood who was groomed to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, and sought to make Japan a “normal” and “beautiful” nation with a stronger military and more focus on the non- political emperor.
He became Japan’s youngest prime minister in 2006, at 52, but his overly nationalistic first stint abruptly ended a year later because of his health.
The end of his scandal- laden first stint as prime minister was the beginning of six years of annual leadership change, remembered as an era of “revolving door” politics that lacked stability and long- term policies.
In December 2012, Abe returned to power, prioritising economic measures over his nationalist agenda. Mr Abe vowed to revitalise the nation and get its economy out of its deflationary doldrums with his“Abenomics” formula, which combines fiscal stimulus, monetary ea sing and structural reforms.
He won six national elections and built a rock- solid grip on power, bolstering Japan’s defence role and capability and its security alliance with the US. He also stepped up patriotic education at schools and raised Japan’s international profile.
On Monday he became Japan’s longest serving prime minister by consecutive days in office, eclipsing the record of Eisaku Sato, his great- uncle, who served 2,798 days from 1964 to 1972.
Shigeru Ishiba, a hawkish 63- year- old former defence minister and Mr Abe’s arch rival, is a favourite next leader in media surveys, although he is less popular within the ruling party.
Former foreign minister Fumio Kishida, defence minister Taro Kono, chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, and economic revitalisation minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of coronavirus measures, are widely tipped as potential successors.