By Linda Sieg and Kiyoshi Takenaka
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Shinzo Abe said Friday that he resigned over fitness problems, ending a term as prime minister with more years of service in the country in which he sought to revive an economy hit by deflation and push for a more powerful army.
His abrupt departure sparked a war at the head of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the coming weeks. The winner will stick to Abe’s “Abenomics” reflationary policies, which have had a combined effect on the resurrection of the world’s third-largest economy.
Abe has been battling ulcerative colitis for years, and two recent hospital visits in one week raised the possibility of him staying until the end of his term in September next year.
Despite developing health considerations, news of Abe’s resignation has caused tremors in Tokyo’s money markets. Japan’s main stock market, which more than doubled with Abe, fell 2% before recovering, while the yen rose in fear of a return to deflation.
“I’m still prime minister if I’m not sure I can bring out the paintings that have been entrusted to me through people,” Abe, 65, said at a press convention speaking his decision.
He said he sought to avoid a political vacuum while Japan was facing the new coronavirus. It is the moment Abe had resigned as prime minister due to fitness problems, the first more than a decade ago.
“I apologize from the bottom of my center that despite all the Japanese people, I leave office with a full year of term,” he said.
At times, at his press conference, he choked and struggled to hold back the tears.
In addition to inheriting an economy in the clutches of its worst recession since World War II, Abe’s successor will have to attend next year’s Olympics, already delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida temporarily expressed interest in high-level office, media reports. Others whose names have been announced come with Abe’s close assistant Yoshihide Suga, chief cabinet secretary.
“The overall image remains intact. In terms of economic and fiscal policy, inflation remains,” said Jesper Koll, senior advisor to asset manager WisdomTree Investments. “Longevity will be a struggle.”
TENANCY RECORD
The resignation comes just days after Abe surpassed the longest consecutive record as a minister established through his great-uncle Eisaku Sato a century ago.
But despite its longevity, it failed to achieve one of its greatest valuable goals: to replace Japan’s post-war pacifist constitution. It also completely failed in the economy, even before the coronavirus.
“As head of the ruling party he worked hard on Abenomics for eight years,” said Naohito Kojima, 55, a brokerage employee.
“There were problems, but if someone else had been a leader, one wonders if he could have maintained a strong government while Mr. Abe.”
Abe praised for reaffirming Japan’s presence globally after years of rotating prime ministers.
His resignation comes amid a dubious geopolitical environment, adding to a development between the United States and China.
Conservative Abe returned to the post of prime minister for a rare period in December 2012, promising to revive expansion with his “Abenomics” combination of hyper-easy financial policy, public spending and reform. He also pledged to defend Japan and revise the constitution.
Abe was instrumental in winning the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“We will have to assume our duty as host country for the Olympic Games,” Abe said at the press conference. “Of course, my successor will have paintings to host the Olympic Games with the same conviction.”
UNDER FIRE
Under fire for his handling of the coronavirus and scandals among party members, Abe has recently seen his support fall to one of the lowest levels since taking power in December 2012.
Japan has not experienced the explosive outbreak of observed virus cases, has recorded only about 67,000 cases and 1,255 deaths, yet Abe has provoked a clumsy early reaction and what critics have noticed as a lack of leadership as infections spread.
Abe has fulfilled his promises to increase army spending after years of decline and expand his ability to allocate forceArray In a historic replacement in 2014, his government reinterpreted the charter to allow Japanese troops to fight for the first time since World War II.
A year later, Japan passed a law prohibiting exercising the right to protect an attacked friendly country.
But Abe was unable to revise article nine of the post-war constitution drafted by the United States, a non-public project that also eluded his grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, who resigned as prime minister in 1960 because of outrage over the U.S.-Japan security pact he championed. .
Abe resigned from his first term as prime minister in 2007, bringing out fitness problems after a year plagued by scandals in his closet and a massive electoral loss for his ruling party. Since then, he had controlled his illness with medications he previously could not take.
(Additional report from the Tokyo office; edited by David Dolan and William Mallard)