Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba denied the reports that he is about to resign "are not true"
After the ruling coalition suffered a major defeat in the House of Councillors election and lost its majority seats, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba faces increasing pressure to step down. Several Japanese media outlets reported that he plans to announce his resignation soon, but on Wednesday (July 23), Ishiba stated that the "reports are not true." At the same time, Kyodo News cited senior members of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who revealed that Ishiba may make a final decision on whether to continue as prime minister in August.
According to the "Mainichi Shimbun," Ishiba told his close associates on Wednesday that he considered stepping down after the LDP's summary and review of the House of Councillors election results at the end of July, but did not specify an exact date for his departure. Multiple Japanese media outlets reported that following the announcement of the results of the House of Councillors election on Sunday, calls within the LDP for Ishiba to resign have increased. The reports cited sources saying that Ishiba chose not to resign immediately after the election to prevent political instability from affecting trade negotiations with the United States, and August 1 is the deadline for the U.S. threat to impose punitive tariffs on Japan.
Shigeru Ishiba and Trump said on Tuesday that a deal had been reached on the Japan-U.S. tariff negotiations, lowering the tariff on imported American cars and other goods from 25% to 15%. The next day after the announcement of this news, Ishiba denied the media reports that he had decided to resign. On Wednesday, Ishiba held a meeting at the LDP headquarters with the party's top advisor, Taro Aso, Vice President菅义伟 (Suga Yoshinori), and former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. All three had previously served as Japanese Prime Ministers. After the meeting, Ishiba told the media, "All participants felt a strong sense of crisis, believing that the party absolutely cannot split. As for my decision to stay or go, it was not mentioned at all during the meeting. Some media reported that I would resign, but I never said such a thing, and the report is not true." He said, "Politics cannot be left in a vacuum to urgently respond to policy issues."
Kyodo News' related report on the same day said that several senior members of the LDP revealed that, given the heavy defeat in the House of Councillors election, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has basically decided to make a final judgment on whether to resign in August, when the political schedule is busy. Young and middle-ranking members of the party, cabinet members, and local organizations have all demanded his resignation. Under these circumstances, Ishiba's resignation due to responsibility seems inevitable, and the agreement on the Japan-U.S. tariff negotiation may also be one of the considerations.
When asked by the media on Wednesday about the impact of the agreement on the Japan-U.S. tariff negotiations on his decision to stay or go, Ishiba said, "I cannot express my position before carefully confirming the content of the agreement." He said he plans to listen to the report from Japan's negotiator Akira Akazawa upon his return and assess it carefully before making a final decision.
Shigeru Ishiba's Political Crisis
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1838430214492426/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.