Commentary
Statesmen come along only once in a great while. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was murdered on July 8 in Nara, Japan, was a statesman.
He was the first of the 20-odd Japanese prime ministers to deserve the title in the last 35 years since Yasuhiro Nakasone held office.
Even though Abe had stepped down in 2020, he was still playing an important role in pushing to build Japan’s defenses, strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance, support Taiwan, and take on the looming threat from communist China.
He will be sorely missed.
Abe had a strategic vision of Japan’s role in the world. He recognized that Japan could no longer sit quietly, writing the occasional check, while events unfolded around it….