Remarkable Accomplishments
So, what about his accomplishments as Prime Minister?
Well, for a start, Kishida further strengthened the Japan-US alliance, supported Ukraine upon the Russian invasion, facilitated the G7 Hiroshima Summit, and quickly amended relations with South Korea to counter Pyongyang’s threat.
One smart move in particular was the surprise visit to Kyiv in March 2023. Although he was the last G7 leader to make the visit, the timing coincided with Chinese leader Xi JinPing’s visit to Moscow, highlighting the difference between the two Asian nations.
Was it really a coincidence? Perhaps. But, the stark contrast portrayed Japan standing on the side of liberal democracy, whereas China shook hands with an authoritarian regime whom perpetuated war.
By this move, Kishida managed to not only anchor Japan’s position within the democratic free world, but also reverse the roles from the 1930s – one advocating freedom and the other aiding a warmonger.
Kishida’s surprise visit to Kyiv
Asides from diplomacy, history will remember Fumio Kishida for beefing up Japan’s postwar defense to an exponentially higher level.
In just three years, he doubled the defense budget, reorganized some key structures of the Self Defense Forces (SDF), eased the weapons export ban, purchased Tomahawk cruise missiles and JASSM-ER attack missiles, approved the development of new long-range missiles, ramped up ammunition production, made wartime food import plans, enabled the repair and maintenance of Western navies, and issued the construction of underground shelters.
Had these been implemented by Shinzo Abe, who was often criticized by the leftist parties as a hawkish conservative, the administration would have confronted stiff resistance.
One must recall the amount of protestors and media backlash during the 2015 Security Reform Act, which was just about enabling the SDF to protect allied units under certain circumstances (limited use of collective self-defense).
Imagine what would have happened if Abe tried to double the military expenditure and introduce long-range missiles.
More hawkish than Abe?
In contrast to his predecessor, Kishida got off the hook quite easily.
Surely, the “pacifist” left voiced their concerns, but the scale and magnitude of their protest was nothing compared to that of 2015.
While this implies the general acceptance towards military buildup, mostly owing to the shock brought from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there seems to be a different factor in play as well.
The reason is similar to the LDP accepting Kishida’s abrupt announcement of destroying factions – Few thought he was capable of doing such thing.
As the leader of a dovish faction, Kishida held the reputation of being a soft-liner when it came to diplomacy and military.
This assumption was validated by many interviews and open remarks made before taking office. For the left, he seemed harmless on the surface compared to the hawkish Abe, which later proved to be actually wrong.
Once more, Kishida subverted everyone’s assumptions by steadily, but assertively acting upon firm resolve, whilst putting on a quiet mask.
Unlike Shinzo Abe, Kishida neither has the charisma nor the political stronghold within the LDP, but his legacy might be equivalent to that of Abe. Or maybe even more in some areas.
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