Tuesday, September 16, 2025
spot_img

Japan PM Abe appoints China-friendly lawmakers to key posts

Date:

Share post:

spot_imgspot_img

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe picked two veteran lawmakers with friendly ties to China for top party posts on Wednesay in an apparent signal of hope for a thaw in chilly ties with Beijing and a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The change in executives in Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was twinned with a cabinet reshuffle in which Abe gave the health and welfare portfolio to a reform-minded lawmaker, kept core ministers and boosted the number of women in an effort to polish his image.
In a move welcomed by Tokyo stock market players, Abe drafted Yasuhisa Shiozaki, 63, a proponent of an overhaul of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), to head the ministry of labour, health and welfare, which oversees GPIF.
The fund is finalising plans to boost the weighting of domestic stocks in its portfolio. Abe also gave women almost a third of the posts in his 18-minister cabinet to show his commitment to promoting women as part of his ‘Abenomics’ growth strategy.
But he retained powerful cabinet members such as Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Finance Minister Taro Aso, 73, Economics Minister Akira Amari, 65, and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, 57, signalling policy continuity.
Abe’s new line-up faces a number of challenges, including how to repair ties with China that have been frayed by rows over disputed territory and Japan’s wartime history, and whether to go ahead with a planned sales tax rise next year despite signs the economy is faltering.
‘A positive economic cycle is kicking off,’ Abe told a news conference after the new line-up was announced.
‘We’re only halfway through in reforms and we need to deal with new challenges. I reshuffled my cabinet so that we can tackle these challenges boldly and vigorously,’ he added. ‘The biggest challenge now is … to revive the regions of Japan.’
In a bid for party unity, the hawkish Abe tapped outgoing Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, his predecessor as LDP leader, for the key party post of secretary-general, the LDP’s de facto election campaign chief.
Tanigaki, 69, is from a moderate wing of the LDP that favours better ties with China. He was also an architect of a plan to hike the sales tax in two stages to curb Japan’s huge public debt. Implementation of the second stage is now in doubt due to a string of gloomy economic data.
Veteran lawmaker Toshihiro Nikai, 75, who also has close ties with China, was appointed to a second top party post. Outgoing administrative reform minister Tomomi Inada, 55, a close conservative ally of Abe, became LDP policy chief. (PTI)

spot_imgspot_img

Related articles

test

fasdfs

Indian police service marks 76 years of legacy, leadership

Hyderabad, Sep 15: Monday (September 15, 2025) marks the 76th anniversary of the Indian Police Service (IPS), a...

PM Modi to inaugurate 524-year-old redeveloped Tripura Sundari temple on Sep 22

Agartala, Sep 15:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the redeveloped Tripura Sundari temple, one of the 51...

ED returns assets valued at Rs 163.85 crore to SBI in Rs 380 crore bank fraud case

Chennai, Sep 15: The Chennai Zonal Office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has restituted 27 immovable properties worth...