“If Chinese President Xi Jinping had been born in the United States, he would not have joined the Communist Party.”
These are remarks made by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot to death in July last year, in his memoir about President Xi.
In the memoirs of Shinzo Abe published on the 8th, former Prime Minister Abe said, “(If President Xi had been the United States), he would have joined the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. He stated that he entered the Communist Party not for an ideological creed, but to seize political power,” and that he was a “strong realist (realist).”
Regarding former US President Donald Trump, he said, “Anyway, it was unconventional.” Regarding his efforts to become friendly with former President Trump by playing golf together, he said, “As a matter of reality, if Japan becomes (Trump’s) target, the entire country falls into a difficult situation. It was important to create a dialogue environment.”
Former President Trump, while in office, raised issues with Abe about Japan’s trade surplus with the US and the burden of the cost of stationing US troops in Japan, advocating “America First”. Former Prime Minister Abe did not have the perception that former President Trump was the leader of the Western world, and said, “The issue between the United States and China was trade balance, and the United States and Russia were thinking of bilateral things, such as guaranteeing security.” I appealed to you to act as a person,” he said.
Regarding former US President Barack Obama, “I only talked about work. He’s the type that’s hard to have a friend-like relationship with,” he said.
Regarding the first and last visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, where class A war criminals of the Pacific War are enshrined in December 2013, for the first and last time while in office, he insisted that it was “a road that should have been passed at least once.” At the time, the US government used the unusual expression “disappointed” and criticized former Prime Minister Abe’s visit. He recalled, “During my tenure as prime minister, I thought I would not be able to visit the shrine twice.”
Former Prime Minister Abe later served as an offering instead of visiting the Yasukuni Shrine during his tenure. However, after his resignation, he visited the Yasukuni Shrine several times and took an outright right-wing movement.
Unlike many prime ministers in Japan who replaced ministers every one or two years, former Prime Minister Abe did not change major ministers during the administration period. Former Prime Minister Abe recalled, “I referred to the Nakasone Cabinet (in the 1980s),” and “I thought it would be better not to change the pillars in order to operate a stable long-term government.”
Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, who took power from 1982 to 1987, served for four years, including Shintaro Abe, former Prime Minister’s father, Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe, and Chief Minister Noboru Takeshita (now Minister of Finance). During the Abe administration, major ministers held positions for a long time, such as then Chief Cabinet Secretary (former Prime Minister) Yoshihide Suga, who served as Prime Minister, serving as Chief Cabinet Secretary from 2012 to 2020.
In an interview, former Prime Minister Suga recalled that he had heard former Prime Minister Abe muttering to himself, “A well-run regime has a long cabinet,” and “I accepted it as a request to extend the chief cabinet secretary.”
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Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.