Former Prime Minister Abe's vision was focused on reaffirming Japan's place in the world. He revived the economy, fought hard to change the nation's pacifist stance, and gave the world the structure of the Indo-Pacific.
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Before Shinzo Abe coming to power and taking over the office, Japan earlier seemed like a going backwards. Its economy, troubled by years of low growth and an aging population, was feared to be on the brink of collapse. China's meteoric rise threatens its security and once undisputed position as Asia's number one power. When the Fukushima nuclear disaster occurred in 2011, the Japanese government – once revered and renowned for its efficiency – clearly failed to rise to the challenge put forward by the world.
When his party returned to office in 2012, Abe had a choice to lead Japan. His first term as prime minister from 2006 to 2007 was a catastrophe, and Abe had to step down just a year later. In the office. While many wrote to him after such a humiliating end, Abe rarely made his way back to the PM's office after five years. Comeback with Abe will be the theme. After doing his own stage, he kept his eye on Japan.
He started by moving the network of Japan's economy. His daring plan, called Abenomics by the same name as friend and foe, sought to revive the Japanese economy through a combination of daring financial and economic stimulus and structural reforms. Abe's administration encouraged the country's conservative business elite to raise wages, simplify working hours, and hire more women. While his record was finally mixed, Abenomics undoubtedly dispelled pessimism about Japan's economic prospects. For the first time in years, he gave the world a reason to be enthusiastic about Japan.
Abe's administration has pushed the country's conservative business elite to raise wages, ease working hours and hire more women.
Abe also waged domestic battles to reverse Japan's post-World War II pacifism, faced with a rising China and always ready to get triggered North Korea, Abe spent much of his tenure trying to work around his country's pacifist constitution, making Japan in a stronger strategic position than earlier. He created the country's first national security strategy, tightened his country's leaky intelligence system and banned arms exports. Above all, it risked significant domestic discontent by allowing Japan to fight defensive wars alongside the Allies. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, its deep and lasting influence was seen. Initiation to double Japan's defence budget, which seemed little more than a dream before Abe's tenure.
Still, Abe's vision has always been to reaffirm Japan's position in the world. He took office at a time when Asia needed a leader and Japan was out without any motivation to lead. Abe took steps to fill the void that his contemporaries could have done, however they didn't. In his first term as Prime Minister, he put a new geopolitical concept behind the idea of Japan: the Indo-Pacific. Speaking in the Indian Parliament in 2007, Abe argued against the traditional view of making the Pacific and the Indian Ocean an independent region of Asia. Now a confluence of two seas, the speech seeks to dissolve those artificial boundaries and redefine Asia as a community defined by a shared commitment to achieving prosperity and fundamental values such as democracy and human rights. Abe believed that this new Asia would be led by a “democratic security diamond” consisting of India, Australia and the United States (US); This concept eventually evolved into the Quad. Although the initial Quad meeting failed to materialise in 2007, Abe pushed tirelessly for closer ties with the US, Australia and India. When China's rise gave the group a new lease on life, Abe supplied the Quad with its mission statement: to secure a "free and open Indo-Pacific." It would not be an exaggeration to say that the rise of the four-nation bloc could be one of the defining geopolitical developments of our time. Efforts were made for closer relations with Australia and India. When China's rise gave the group a new lease on life, Abe supplied the Quad with its mission statement: to secure a "free and open Indo-Pacific." It would not be an exaggeration to say that the rise of the four-nation bloc could be one of the defining geopolitical developments of our time. Efforts were made for closer relations with Australia and India.
Abe has also led Asia at a time when Washington has turned its back on global engagement. After the Trump administration pulled out of the 14-nation trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Japan ruled out the possibility and kept the deal alive. It is now one of the world's largest trading blocs by gross domestic product (GDP). Even as Trump clashed with America's European partners, Abe's skillful personal diplomacy helped stabilize alliances and America's role in Asia. He was our compass in an uncertain world.
Bilateral ties, once just fits and starts, now move from joint military exercises and space communications to infrastructure development and supply chain security.
Few capitals fall less under Abe's steady hand than New Delhi. While many of his predecessors sought to foster closer ties with India, Abe has placed New Delhi at the center of Japan's strategy for Asia and the Indo-Pacific. New Delhi and Tokyo upgraded their bilateral partnership and expressed a joint vision for the future of the region. Japan's strong investment in India as well as its willingness to take up infrastructure projects in the sensitive Northeast strengthened ties. Bilateral relations, which at one time only fit and start, now move from joint military exercises and space communications to infrastructure development and supply chain security.
Nations are described as having "no friends, only interests." However, after the shocking news of Abe's death, Prime Minister Modi declared a day of national mourning. In a real sense, it was a fitting tribute to the demise of a leader who was a staunch friend and ally of India.
In time to come, there will be many tributes to Shinzo Abe's vision and his legacy. In 2013, a few months after returning to office, Abe boldly remarked: “I'm back and so will Japan”. He kept that promise. This is his legacy.
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