RIP Shinzo Abe

Born into a prominent political family, Shinzo Abe had been the country’s longest-serving prime minister. His father was Shintaro Abe, who served various stints as Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Minister for International Trade and Industry, and Minister for Foreign Affairs. His maternal grandfather was Nobusuke Kishi, a former prime minister.

However, what made Shinzo Abe stand apart from his politically elite family and his predecessors was the degree of stability he brought to Japan following a period of economic malaise.

Known for his Abenomics, the economic policies he brought in since his re-election in December 2012 are said to have infused a fresh lease of life into the crumbling economy of the country. Abenomics is based upon “three arrows” — monetary easing from the Bank of Japan, fiscal stimulus through government spending, and structural reforms. Immediate effects were seen on various financial markets in Japan soon after the Abenomics policies were implemented.

He strategically weakened the yen against the American dollar and the weaker yen eventually increased export volumes.

Abe made it a point to forge a friendship with leaders who mattered to Japanese interests. For instance, he forged a personal relationship with former US President Donald Trump and successfully leveraged it into policies that protected Japan’s interests. Such was the impact that it instantly deescalated the negative rhetoric about Japan, which was evident in Trump’s presidential campaign.

Similarly, he managed to strike a chord with Indian PM Modi, who called Abe his “most dependable friend”. This led to upgrading the strategic Japan–India relationship. He initiated the Quad – the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between Japan, the United States, Australia, and India in 2007.

He also established the “fifth” bilateral link in the emerging global scenario, by which the US-Australia, US-Japan, Japan-Australia, and the US-India links were formed as supportive strategic alignments. These are skills that could not be matched by another Japanese political leader.

In the face of Chinese expansionism, Abe initiated the partnership with strategically significant countries – an evolving geo-strategic paradigm which Chinese experts warily labelled the “Asian NATO”.

Furthermore, he returned Japan’s voice to the global stage at a time when global political leadership was essential for the country’s interests – both in terms of global security and over the future of the liberal economic order.

A politician for nearly four decades, Abe was not everyone’s favourite, as no leader can be. He is infamous to have earned the wrath of his neighbours –South Korea and China. He was very vocal against Chinese expansionism.

His veiled remarks against the Beijing World Economic Forum in 2014 that “the dividends of growth in Asia must not be wasted on military expansion” and his calls for greater preservation of the freedom of the seas under the rule of law have been the subject of acute criticism in Chinese state-run media.

On the other hand, Beijing has been wary of Abe’s line on “free and open Indo-Pacific” and active participation in the Quad and facilitating Nato’s entry in East Asia.

On the home front, his nationalistic rhetoric and calls to revise the country’s pacifist constitution have irked his countrymen to no end. These, coupled with the alleged favouritism scandals in March 2018, along with the historical revisionism did not leave him in a positive light in the eyes of his countrymen.