Tokyo
\nJapan\u2019s former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba on Tuesday was formally elected by the country\u2019s parliament to serve as its prime minister days after beating hardline nationalist Sanae Takaichi in a run-off vote.
\nIshiba, whose conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) holds a majority, is known for his in-depth security policy knowledge. Ishiba\u2019s push to boost the military and call for the creation of an Asian NATO could rile Beijing, but he is careful with his words concerning China.
\n\u201cI will be committed to protecting Japan\u2019s territory,\u201d he said on Friday after the ruling party voted him leader. \u201cJapan wants to fulfil our proactive responsibility and start discussions about how to build peace in this region.\u201d Tensions are running high after incursions into Japanese airspace by China and Russia. A Japanese warship also last week sailed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time.
\nAlthough he is relatively popular with the public, Ishiba had four failed bids to lead his LDP, including a 2012 try against his arch-rival Shinzo Abe, before prevailing this time against a nationalist.
\nFor a long time Ishiba alienated party heavyweights with his \u201coutspoken criticism of LDP policies under Abe\u201d, said Yu Uchiyama, a politics professor at the University of Tokyo. But recently he has been \u201cvocal about the need for the LDP to turn over a new leaf when it comes to the funding scandal and other issues\u201d, which may have worked in his favour.
\nThe 67-year-old politician has also proposed creating a government agency in charge of disaster prevention in the earthquake-prone country that is also frequently hit by typhoons and heavy rains.
\nIshiba has said he intends to call a general election for October 27.
\nIshiba\u2019s vision for Japan
\nIshiba, whose politician father was at one point a cabinet minister, studied law at university and became a banker before entering politics, winning his first parliamentary seat with the LDP in 1986, aged 29.
\nDuring his long career, the father of two has held several key posts including LDP secretary general and minister for agriculture.
\nIshiba has pledged to boost the economy by encouraging domestic investment in the chip and AI sectors among other policies, such as using nuclear power alongside renewables to fuel the resource-poor country.
\nHe supports the Bank of Japan\u2019s exit from its longstanding unorthodox monetary easing policies \u2014 championed by Abe \u2014 and has said \u201cthere is room for raising the corporate tax\u201d.
\nThe money raised by this tax hike will help the government in its existing plan to ramp up defence spending to the NATO standard of 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027, according to Ishiba.
\nHe aims to raise Japan\u2019s low birth rate through measures including a review of the country\u2019s notoriously long working hours and expanding support for parents, and wants to fight rural depopulation by revitalising regional economies.
\nIshiba has said he is uniquely qualified for the job because he has experienced many setbacks when tackling tough social issues, such as agriculture reforms.
\n\u201cI have always asked myself why and how things didn\u2019t always go well. I don\u2019t want future generations to repeat the same mistakes,\u201d he said in a recent debate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tokyo Japan\u2019s former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba on Tuesday was formally elected by the country\u2019s parliament to serve as its prime minister days after beating hardline nationalist Sanae Takaichi in a run-off vote. Ishiba, whose conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) holds a majority, is known for his in-depth security policy knowledge. Ishiba\u2019s push to boost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-434728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n