The following is from an article by Shin Okabe in today's Sankei Shimbun titled "Former Prime Minister Abe, a Leader in Defense of Democracy.
It is a must-read not only for the Japanese people but for people worldwide.
The emphasis in the text except for the headline is mine.
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead by an assassin.
On the 27th of next month, a state funeral will be held for him in Japan with the attendance of hundreds of dignitaries from various countries, including former U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Emmanuel Macron, and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
It is because he has been positively evaluated as a "defender of the democratic world" for advocating proactive pacifism in foreign policy and leading the creation of a framework for international cooperation.
Monthly magazines once again focused on his achievements.
The Financial Times editorial of July 9 noted, "Shinzo Abe has brought Japan back onto the world stage and left behind an extraordinary legacy of economic and diplomatic achievements. In particular, his security policy was visionary, and Abe's name will live on in the world.
Yuichi Hosoya, a professor at Keio University, wrote in "Chuo Koron" that "If Yoshida laid the foundation of postwar Japanese diplomacy, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe updated Japan's diplomatic line after the Cold War" and that he established a new diplomatic line to replace the Yoshida Doctrine.
Kunihiko Miyake, president of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, also wrote in "VOICE" that "the greatest achievement was that he drastically changed the very nature of Japan's foreign policy" and that he was always trying to come up with answers on what to do to survive in rough seas. He said no other politician had such a national and strategic view as Mr. Abe.
For Japan to survive in the worst postwar security environment in East Asia, surrounded by the nuclear-powered authoritarian powers of China, Russia, and North Korea, it must update its foreign policy based on the Japan-U.S. alliance, which is lightly armed and emphasizes economic growth.
To this end, Japan has developed security legislation to "mutualize" the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty to strengthen the functions of the Japan-U.S. alliance further and has changed its interpretation of the Constitution to allow the exercise of the right of collective self-defense.
Furthermore, he created the National Security Council (Japan's version of the NSC). He enacted the Specified Secret Protection Law to strengthen intelligence activities and the Preparatory Crime Against Terrorism Act to prevent organized crime by terrorist organizations.
Mitsuru Fukuda, a Nihon University's College of Emergency Management professor, complains in "VOICE."
Hosoya argues in "Chuo Koron" that the fact that he was able to gain the trust of leaders with different political systems and build friendly relations with them "is also related to the fact that he interacted with leaders around the world under the slogan of 'positive pacifism based on international collaborationism' and took initiatives in various international cooperation frameworks.
While his "international collaborationism" was highly praised overseas, at home, he was criticized for "turning Japan to the right" and for his policy of "making Japan a country capable of war.
However, Fukuda argues in "Voice" that "from a global perspective, this is not necessarily the case.
The Security Law was intended to introduce to Japan the idea of collective security, a trend in the Western international community, and to establish a right of collective self-defense in line with the global situation in which Japan alone can no longer defend itself against aggression by other countries.
Fukuda pointed out that "the significance of this change was also reaffirmed in Japan, which witnessed the difficulty of defending itself independently by a single country in a world faced with Russia's unilateral invasion of Ukraine," and appealed that this is a point to be appreciated from an international perspective.
Although many in the media at the time criticized the reinterpretation of the Constitution and the enactment of the new Security Law as "treason against constitutionalism" and "a challenge to the democracy that Japan had built up after the war" (Asahi Shimbun), Hosoya wrote in Chuo Koron, "It did not destroy constitutionalism, nor did it destroy Japanese pacifism (omission). Nor has it destroyed Japan's democracy," he objected, pointing out that, instead, internationally, he "has been recognized as a leader in defense of democracy" amid fears of democratic regression around the world and an abundance of agitating and authoritarian leaders.
Hundreds of world dignitaries mourn and visit Japan because of his leadership in the democratic world, defending values such as freedom and democracy.
There is no other way to send off such an internationally acclaimed and unsung "world leader" than with a state funeral.
Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, praised the "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" concept, which he proposed in 2016 to strengthen cooperation with partners who share values, in "Bungei Shunju," saying, "He uses this phrase daily without question, and this is the legacy of former Prime Minister Abe.
Hosoya added, "He conceived and proposed the 'Quad,' a framework for cooperation among the four countries of Japan, the United States, Australia, and India, which is now referred to by government officials and experts worldwide.
In response to such conventional views as "Prime Minister Abe's shift to the right in Japan," Miyake said in the VOICE, "There is no doubt that he is a conservative. He is a flexible realist in nature." Miyake responded, "He has merely tried to shift the center of gravity of Japanese politics, which has tilted too far to the left, from the left to the center, and this is seen as a 'shift to the right from the left.
Hosoya also pointed out that "a more flexible and pragmatic political stance is the hallmark of this governance" and that it is "open conservatism.
If the protracted war in Ukraine shakes the foundations of democracy in many countries, the powerful states of China and Russia will try to change the status quo by force.
As Emanuel, speaking on behalf of the United States, said in "Bungei Shunju," "We will implement various things within the framework that former Prime Minister Abe created and left to us," we must continue our diplomatic course of defending democracy based on international cooperation.
(Titles omitted)
