Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters after North Korea launched a missile on April 13, 2023.
Jiji Publishing House | AFP | Getty Images
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will resign in September, a move that has triggered widespread reactions from government officials and analysts.
Kishida’s choice not to run for re-election as leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party effectively opened the door for a new prime minister to take charge of the world’s fourth-largest economy.
One expert said the move was reminiscent of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race less than a month ago.
William Pesek, author of “Japanification: What the World Can Learn from Japan’s Lost Decade,” said: “To me, this is Kishida ‘copying Joe Biden’ and (wisely) realizing By the time he went to the election he was not the best face of his party.
Biden dropped out after a poor debate performance, while Kishida’s tenure has been dogged by scandal within his party and an economy vulnerable to deflationary pressures.
Leader of Japan’s largest opposition party, Japanese Cadet PartyNoting that the issues “have not yet been resolved” and pledging that his party will continue to take action to address the issue. Still, Izumi thanked Kishida for his hard work, adding: “Prime Minister Kishida, you must be under a lot of pressure.”
According to Reuters, Kishida said at a press conference on Wednesday that it was very important for the Liberal Democratic Party leadership to have new faces and that he believed it was necessary to step down in order for the Liberal Democratic Party to regain public trust.
Still, diplomats and officials expressed gratitude for Kishida’s leadership and recalled the relationship that developed with Japan during Kishida’s tenure as prime minister.
Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said: “The prime minister is a true friend of the United States, and Japan has become a true global partner of the United States.” Represented on social media platform.
“Under Prime Minister Kishida’s steadfast leadership, Japan and the United States have ushered in a new era of alliance relations,” Emanuel said, adding that Kishida helped build a network of partnerships and security alliances across the Indo-Pacific region.
Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese also expressed his gratitude His Japanese counterpart.
“I pay tribute to my friend Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. He has always valued the important relationship between Japan and Australia and his leadership has helped strengthen that relationship,” he said.
Shihab Alfaheem, Ambassador of the UAE to Japan Nguyen Xuan Phuc expressed appreciation for Kishida’s efforts and the development of bilateral relations, saying that the relations between the two countries have made great progress. “We are always looking to strengthen our relationship,” he posted on X.
One strategist believes Kishida may step down.
“He’s been dead for a long time,” said market player Amir Anvarzadeh. “I think ultimately what really brought him down was the weakness of the yen, basically the Bank of Japan’s policy mistakes that really caused him to collapse.” Withdrew from the polls.
The Bank of Japan recently raised its benchmark interest rate to “around 0.25%” from the previous range of 0% to 0.1%, the highest rate since 2008. Arbitrage trades played a role in the recent sharp sell-off in global markets.
“It is as if the Bank of Japan has ended its tenure as prime minister,” Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank said in a note.