Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced he will quit as leader of the country’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), amid his sinking approval rating resulting from the LDP-related corruption scandal, rising living costs, and a slumping yen.
Public support for Fumio Kishida's Cabinet plummeted to 15.5% last month, another low since the LDP returned to power in Japan in December 2012.
Apart from his poor domestic strategy, what developments have marked Kishida’s foreign policy?
Japan under Kishida has fueled the Ukrainian conflict by providing more than $12 billion of financial and other aid to the Kiev regime since 2022, per the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
Japan embarked on the path of militarization, issuing in 2022 a new national security doctrine aimed at doubling the country’s defense spending within the next five years.
The same year, Japan’s parliament did not think twice before approving a deal to spend $8.6 billion over five years to host American military personnel on Japanese soil.
Tokyo continues to take part in the annual US-led RIMPAC, the world's largest maritime military drills described by Chinese experts as “demonstration of America’s hegemony” in the region.
The US currently has about 56,000 active-duty service members in Japan, more than in any other country, according to Pentagon data.
Last month, Japan agreed on establishing a Joint Operations Command (JJOC) with the US on its territory by next March.
What’s more, Tokyo and Washington reportedly discussed "extended deterrence”, which stipulated for the use of nuclear weapons in US protection of Japan.
The US is now pushing for Japan to be included in Pillar II of the AUKUS agreement. China has repeatedly castigated the arrangement as part of America’s “new Cold War” antagonism aimed at containing Beijing by fueling the militarization of the Asia-Pacific region.