Japan PM Kishida steps down as planned before likely successor Ishiba takes office

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida resigned with his Cabinet, paving the way for his likely successor Shigeru Ishiba to take office. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi announced that Kishida and his ministers stepped down at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

Ishiba was chosen as the governing Liberal Democratic Party’s leader on Friday to replace Kishida, who announced in August his resignation at the end of his three-year term.

Ishiba is assured to be prime minister later Tuesday in a vote by parliament because it is dominated by his party’s ruling coalition.

Ishiba will then announce his new Cabinet later in the day.

Kishida took office in 2021 but is leaving so his party can have a fresh leader after his government was dogged by scandals.

On Monday, Shigeru Ishiba said he planned to call a parliamentary election to be held on Oct. 27 after he is formally chosen as prime minister.

“I believe it is important to have the new administration get the public’s judgment as soon as possible,” Ishiba said.

He also announced his party leaders Monday ahead of naming his Cabinet.

He appointed former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who came in third in the party leadership race, to head the party’s election task force.

He is expected to name defense experts and his longtime confidantes Takeshi Iwaya as foreign minister and Gen Nakatani as defense chief once he takes office.

Ishiba has proposed an Asian version of the NATO military alliance and more discussion among regional partners about the use of the U.S. nuclear deterrence. He also suggested a more equal Japan-U.S. security alliance, including joint management of U.S. bases in Japan and having Japanese Self Defense Force bases in the United States.

Ishiba outlined his views in an article to the Hudson Institute last week. “The absence of a collective self-defense system like NATO in Asia means that wars are likely to break out because there is no obligation for mutual defense. Under these circumstances, the creation of an Asian version of NATO is essential to deter China by its Western allies,” he wrote.

Ishiba proposes combining of existing security and diplomatic groupings, such as the Quad and other bilateral and multilateral frameworks involving the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the Philippines.

He also noted that the Asian version of NATO can also consider sharing of the control of U.S. nuclear weapons in the region as a deterrence against growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia.

Ishiba on Friday stressed Japan needs to reinforce its security, noting recent violations of Japanese airspace by Russian and Chinese warplanes and repeated missile launches by North Korea.

He pledged to continue Kishida’s economic policy aimed at pulling Japan out of deflation and achieving real salary increases, while tackling challenges such as Japan’s declining birthrate and population and resilience to natural disasters.

The LDP has had a nearly unbroken tenure governing Japan since World War II. The party members may have seen Ishiba’s more centrist views as crucial in pushing back challenges by the liberal-leaning opposition and winning voter support as the party reels from corruption scandals that drove down Kishida’s popularity.

Ishiba, first elected to parliament in 1986, has served as defense minister, agriculture minister and in other key Cabinet posts, and was LDP secretary general under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.