Former PM Abe helped reshape Japan's foreign and defence policy - Ex-diplomat

KUALA LUMPUR: As Japan honoured former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday (Sept 27), at the first state funeral for a former premier in 55 years, an ex-Japanese diplomat reflected on Abe's accomplishments in beefing up Japan's defence and stabilising the security environment in East Asia.

Former Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia Dr Makio Miyagawa told Bernama, Abe, who championed policies that had reshaped Japanese foreign and defence outlook to date had contributed to strengthening national defence capabilities.

"Japan's national security system, perfunctorily created in the political and economic chaos of the post-war period has long been left unimproved due to the rigidity of the country's constitutional system.

"It has taken years to make even modest improvement, due to all the political resistance from opposition parties, left-wing media and academia.

"Given the deterioration of the security environment around Japan over the past 20 years and the mounting threats to Japan's own national security, Abe worked diligently to improve the situation based upon realism and obtained achievements one after another," said the 71-year-old former diplomat.

On top of that, Miyagawa highlighted the biggest challenge for Abe was to increase Japan's defence budget and to expand Japan's defence research and development budget.

"This is an issue that Abe pursued all through his administration since the beginning, but it has finally started to come to fruition this year, regrettably the year he passed away," said Miyagawa, who served as Japan's envoy to Malaysia during Abe's long second term from the end of 2012 to September 2020.

Abe, who was prime minister twice - for a period totalling nine years - and the longest-serving head of government in Japanese history, did his best in mitigating the rising geopolitical challenges in East Asia.

Abe responded to the challenging security environment and geopolitical shift happening around Japan and in East Asia, particularly China's expansion of military muscle and its attempts to change the status quo in East Asia, said Miyagawa.

"He achieved his commitment of strengthening the Japanese armed forces, solidifying our security alliance with the United States (US), and deepening security relations with friendly nations in Asia so as to stabilise the security environment of East Asia.

"No doubt, achieving all that is necessary at once is unrealistic, and Japan still needs to go a long way ahead. Abe put his political life on the line and worked hard to revise the constitution.

"It is unfortunate that he had to die at a stage when the constitutional environment necessary for the amendment was almost being created," Miyagawa said.

On Tuesday, thousands of mourners flooded Abe's state funeral which was held at the Nippon Budokan Hall in central Tokyo.

US Vice-President Kamala Harris, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and International Olympic Commitee President Thomas Bach were among the foreign guests attending the funeral.

On July 8, Abe who stepped down in 2020, was shot moments into a speech during a campaign rally in the Western city of Nara, airlifted to hospital and later pronounced dead. Police arrested the suspected gunman at the scene.

-- BERNAMA