My Take | Shigeru Ishiba a Japanese leader who is willing to engage China
The next PM’s idea of an Asian Nato is a pipe dream but his expressed willingness to be more independent of the US should be taken seriously
Washington may not like Shigeru Ishiba but Beijing might. After being picked by its own lawmakers in a run-off vote as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the former defence minister is set to become Japan’s next prime minister.
The 67-year-old has been called an outsider, though it’s hard to see how one of the less unpopular figures from the country’s long-ruling party could be described as such.
The only explanation is that these days, anyone who is not an anti-China hawk in South Korea and Japan is considered an outsider – in Washington and Brussels.
The selection was necessary because with his government hit by repeated scandals, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida offered to retire early as party leader.
In the latest round, Ishiba beat main rival and hardliner Sanae Takaichi, who has vowed to formally visit the Yasukuni Shrine, a symbol of Japanese militarism where some of the country’s war criminals have been buried.
She also wants to confront Beijing to take back the Senkaku Islands, or Diaoyu to the Chinese.
All the other party leadership candidates also advocated closer ties with the United States and an enhanced Japanese military against China.
