Like most of its confederates in the West, Japan is taking a more belligerent stance at a time when it doesn’t have the money to back it up. From Dan Steinbock at antiwar.com:
When Japan’s new prime minister Sanae Takaichi took office, she pledged to focus on economic improvement. After her Taiwan comments, new missteps could prove costly to Japan, the region, even the world.
Behind Diplomatic Crisis, Japan’s Economic Slide
When Japan’s new prime minister Sanae Takaichi took office, she pledged to focus on economic improvement. After her Taiwan comments, new missteps could prove costly to Japan, the region, even the world.
On October 21, Sanae Takaichi, the president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), was voted in as the 104th prime minister of Japan; the first woman selected for the nation’s highest post.
Barely a month later, in her first parliamentary address, Takaichi, 64, stated that Japan could become militarily involved in a conflict between China and Taiwan. That sparked a diplomatic crisis as Japan’s relations with China plunged to lowest in years.
Yet, this crisis has been long in coming. Takaichi needs a geopolitical spat to steer attention away from Japan’s secular economic challenges.
Political slide to hard right
Instead of a continued partnership with the centrist Komeito party, Takaichi launched her coalition with the center-right Nippon Ishin party. With the end of the 26-year coalition with Komeito, the LDP took a turn to hard right.
Initially, Takaichi’s cabinet enjoyed some of the highest approval ratings (65%-85%) of any Japanese government in the last two decades, with strong support among young and middle-aged respondents. The Japanese see as the administration’s national priority in tackling inflation (84%), economic stimulus (64%), social security (53%) and security (47%). Bread and butter issues supersede military issues by far.
Only a minority of Japanese (17%) approved of Hagiuda Koichi, who had previously been involved in a slush fund scandal, being appointed as executive acting secretary general. After Abe’s assassination, ties between the LDP and Unification Church came under scrutiny and Hagiuda had intimate ties with the controversial Church.
