The assassination, Friday, of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has taken away one of the tallest world leaders of our time. Abe radically altered the geopolitical trajectory of Japan, re-imagined the regional future by inventing the “Indo-Pacific” as well as the Quadrilateral security forum, and built a strong strategic partnership with India. What makes the assassination even more shocking has been the traditionally tranquil ethos of Japan that has largely been alien to the gun culture and political violence that has rocked other Asian and western societies. Abe, who had two stints at the helm during 2006-07 and 2012-20, was the longest serving prime minister since the Second World War in a country that saw a frequent turnover of the top leadership. Abe will be remembered not just for the length of time he served as prime minister. He will be recalled for his bold leadership that actively sought to shake Japan out of its post-War political passivity and turn it into a “normal nation” ready to pursue its national interests unapologetically and reclaim regional leadership.
After the Second World War, Japan focused on keeping its head down, rebuilding its shattered economy, and atoning for the nation’s sins in the imperial era. Since the end of the Cold War, there have been mounting pressures on Japan — which had become the world’s second largest economy — to take a larger responsibility for shaping Asian and global affairs. While most leaders ducked that call, Abe stepped out boldly to reboot Japan’s role. Losing second place in the global economic hierarchy to China in 2010 and Beijing’s growing political clout convinced Abe to radically rethink Japan’s policies. Although he could not revise the terms of the post-War “peace constitution” that severely crimped Japan’s regional military role, Abe took a number of steps to modernise its national security establishment, widened the set of military actions that Japan’s self-defence forces could undertake, strengthened the military alliance with the US, and created the basis for stronger security cooperation with other Asian nations like Australia and India.
