Articles by "Shinzo Abe"
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Hello Jammu News at 8:50:00 PM 0


Tokyo, Mar 24 :  The postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be held in around a year as a "testament" to humanity's victory over the new coronavirus pandemic, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday.

He said he had secured agreement from the head of the International Olympic Committee to postpone the Games and then hold them "in a complete form as a testament to mankind's defeat of the new virus".
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Hello Jammu News at 1:31:00 PM 0

Tokyo, Sep 20: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won comfortable re-election as leader of his ruling party Thursday, setting him on course to become Japan's longest-serving premier and realise his dream of reforming the constitution.

The 63-year-old conservative secured 553 votes against 254 won by former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba, a hawkish self-confessed "military geek", in a two-horse race for leader of the Liberal Democratic Party.

The win effectively hands Abe three more years as PM, giving him the chance of breaking the record for the nation's longest serving premiership held by Taro Katsura, a revered politician who served three times between 1901 and 1913.

Public support for Abe -- a political thoroughbred whose grandfather and father both held power -- has recovered after he managed to survive a series of cronyism and cover-up scandals.

Now reconfirmed in power, Abe will head to New York this weekend to attend the UN General Assembly and hold a summit with US President Donald Trump.

Abe and Trump, who enjoy each other's company on the golf course and are close diplomatic allies, are expected to analyse the latest inter-Korean summit.

But they will also have to confront a growing trade dispute as Trump sees Tokyo among "unfair" trade partners.

While Japanese voters put the economy and social security as their top priorities, Abe aims to use the election to push his dream of reforming the country's post-World War II pacifist constitution.

Nationalist Abe has frequently voiced his wish to rewrite the charter, imposed by the victorious US occupiers, which forces the country to "forever renounce war" and dictates that armed forces will "never be maintained".

Abe insists any changes would merely remove the country's well-equipped Self-Defense Forces from the constitutional paradox whereby they should not technically exist.

"It's time to stipulate both the Self-Defense Forces and the protection of Japan's peace and independence in the constitution," Abe said in his last stump speech in Tokyo.

But any changes to the text would be hugely sensitive in pacifist Japan and almost certainly greeted with fury in China and the Koreas, 20th-century victims of Japanese military aggression.

Even if Abe manages to force a revision through parliament, he would face a referendum, raising the prospect of a Brexit-style political meltdown if the people vote against him, said Yu Uchiyama, political scientist from the University of Tokyo.

In addition, surveys show that tinkering with the legal text is far from top of most Japanese voters' to-do list, as the country faces an ageing and declining population and a still-sluggish economy.

Acknowledging concerns over the economic outlook, Abe said he plans to introduce "bold" stimulus measures to ease the expected impact of a tax hike scheduled for October next year.

Japan's economy has been expanding for the past few years at a slow pace thanks to the Bank of Japan's ultra-loose monetary policy and huge government spending, which have led to a weak yen -- a key positive element for Japanese exporters.

But analysts warned US-led trade wars could be a major risk factor for an economy still struggling to win a long battle against deflation. (AFP)
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Hello Jammu News at 12:34:00 PM 0

Kurashiki, Jul 11: Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe headed today to one of the areas worst-hit by record rains as the death toll rose to 179 and thousands of evacuees remained stranded in shelters.

Abe, who cancelled a four-stop foreign trip planned for this week as the disaster worsened, was due to visit the flood-ravaged Okayama area to see the scale of the damage first-hand.

With dozens reportedly still missing, the toll from the worst weather-related disaster in Japan in over three decades is expected to rise further.

Rescue workers were still digging through the aftermath of flash floods and landslides that swallowed whole neighbourhoods, but hopes were fading that any new survivors could be found.

Abe was scheduled to fly over the Mabi district to view the damage, and meet with evacuees and local officials to discuss their needs.

Over 10,000 people were still in shelters across large parts of central and western Japan, local media said, including at a school in the town of Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture.

Around 300 people spent the night at the Okada Elementary School, many of them sleeping on blue mats laid out in the school's gym.

Hiroko Fukuda, 40, was there was with her husband, but they had sent her young daughter to stay with relatives after she became so distressed by the evacuation that she stopped eating.

The family fled their home on Friday night, and returned Monday to discover the entire ground floor had been submerged beneath floodwaters that ruined everything from electronics to photos.

"We can accept losing things like home appliances, but memories," she said, her voice trailing off.

"We can't get back photos of her at three years old," she said of her daughter.

"It hurts that our memories are gone."

Among the things ruined by the flooding were Fukuda's kimonos, including a "furisode" worn on special occasions.

"I had wanted my daughter to wear it," Fukuda said, her eyes filling with tears.

The days of record rainfall transformed roads into rivers, and waves of mud swept down hillsides, carrying cars and trees with them.

In Kurashiki, the receding floods have left a layer of silt on everything that was underwater.

Crushed cars and fallen trees moved by work crews to either side of one main street formed piles of debris lining the road.

And despite the let-up in the rains, new flood warnings were still being issued today.

The town of Fukuyama in Hiroshima prefecture issued an evacuation order over

fears that a small lake could burst its banks.

A similar order was issued Tuesday in the town of Fuchu, also in Hiroshima, after driftwood backed up in a river, causing water to crest over its banks and submerge surrounding neighbourhoods.

An official there said Wednesday that the alert had been downgraded, but urged residents to remain cautious.

"The water level is expected to go down, as we are clearing driftwood and other rubble, but that's far from a guarantee of safety," he told AFP by phone.

"In no way can I say that we are safe now, there's no telling if or when water could gush out again." Government officials have also warned people to remain on guard against the possibility of fresh landslides, with the torrential rain loosening earth on hillsides around residential areas.

And with the end of the rains, searing heat brought new risks, as blazing sun and temperatures up to 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) posed challenges for people living in modestly equipped shelters or damaged homes with no electricity or running water.

Over 75,000 police, firemen and troops have been deployed to dig through the rubble looking for survivors, or victims of the disaster.

"We are keeping up our search-and-rescue work," said Mutsunari Imawaka, an official with Okayama prefecture, adding that over 1,000 people were involved in the effort in the one part of Kurashiki alone.

But nearly a week after the rains first began, hopes that missing people could still be alive have dwindled.  (AFP)
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Hello Jammu News at 2:48:00 PM 0

Tokyo , Jul 2: Trade ministers and officials from 16 Asian countries have agreed to speed up negotiations on outstanding issues and reach a basic agreement on a regional trade pact by the end of this year.

During weekend meetings, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged fellow leaders to work for an early conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in the face of an increasingly protectionist US.

Japan has sought to take leadership in shaping the pact as an alternative to a Pacific Rim free-trade grouping that Trump abandoned early this year, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

At a joint news conference yesterday after the talks, Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko and his Singaporean counterpart, Chan Chun Sing, noted there are differences that still need to be resolved, but the participants see reaching an accord as evidence of Asia's commitment to defending free trade.

"This is indeed a moment for us to seize the opportunity against a global backdrop where we are facing headwinds in the trade relationships and the trade regimes," Chan said. Achieving a pact would be a powerful statement to show what RCEP countries stand for, he said.

In a joint statement, the ministers said achieving a pact is important especially "in view of the current global trade environment, which faces serious risks from unilateral trade actions and reactions, as well as their debilitating implications on the multilateral trading system." They also pledged to seek breakthroughs in politically challenging areas.

In his remarks earlier today, Abe said a pact among the countries that together make up half the global population has enormous growth potential.

"As we are faced with concerns of the rise of protectionism in the world, all of us in Asia must unite, and our future depends on whether we can keep hoisting our flagship principle of free and fair trade," Abe told the meeting in Tokyo.

"Let us be as one and achieve a free, fair and rules-based market in this region." Trump, who says he prefers bilateral deals, has pulled the U.S. out of the TPP, leaving the remaining 11 countries, from Chile to New Zealand, to work on a revamped version of that pact. Japan is a leading participant in those talks, too.

Trump has imposed high tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and has threatened to add automobiles to reduce America's trade deficit. He has singled out Chinese products, prompting fears of a trade war.

Already hit by increased U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, Japan has told the World Trade Organisation that it may retaliate against U.S. goods totaling about 50 billion yen (USD 450 million).

Tokyo warned the U.S. Department of Commerce on Friday that a higher U.S. tariff on auto imports could backfire, jeopardizing hundreds of thousands of American jobs created by Japanese automobile industry-related companies, raising prices for U.S. consumers and causing a disaster for the U.S and global economy.

Trump's moves have resonated in Asia, where many countries have prospered thanks to free trade and the expansion of global supply chains.

Members of the initiative, launched in 2013, have struggled with issues including tariffs, trade in services and investment rules, as well as protection for intellectual property rights. Japan is also cautious about China's influence. China, which is not part of the TPP, plays a key role in RCEP.

RCEP also includes Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Korea. (AP)
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Hello Jammu News at 4:33:00 PM 0

Washington, Jun 7: With less than a week to go before meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump plays host today to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who wants his voice heard ahead of the unprecedented talks.
Trump and Abe will hold a joint press conference at the White House in the early afternoon, before heading to Canada for what promises to be a tense Group of Seven summit clouded by the US leader's aggressive trade policies.
Since the first inkling that a Trump-Kim summit could be on the cards, Japan has repeatedly insisted that Washington be mindful not to let its guard down with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang.
And by coming to Washington to see Trump for the second time in less than two months, Abe wants to be sure to get his point across to the US president, amid the intense diplomatic flurry over the future of the Korean peninsula.
Before leaving Tokyo, the Japanese leader emphasized that during his lightning visit to Washington, he hoped to "closely coordinate and agree" with Trump on an approach to the North Korea issue.
And he clearly outlined what would need to happen for the June 12 summit in Singapore to be a success: tangible progress on curbing the North's nuclear and ballistic missiles programs, as well as answers about Japanese nationals kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s.
At their last meeting at Trump's Florida retreat in April, the US president promised Abe to raise the politically sensitive abductions issue in any talks with Pyongyang.
But the subject is hardly a priority for the businessman-turned-president, whose strategy appears to be in constant flux.
Above all, Trump seems most enthused by the notion of being the first sitting US leader to hold direct talks with a scion of the ruling Kim dynasty.
The intensifying diplomacy on North Korea has so far left Abe as the odd man out: Trump is preparing to meet Kim, while Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korea's Moon Jae-in have each already seen the North's leader twice.
For Richard Armitage, a former senior diplomat during the administration of George W. Bush, Tokyo runs a very real risk of finding itself out in the cold after the Trump-Kim talks.
"We should absolutely prevent decoupling -- decoupling Japanese and US security," he told AFP.
"This is and has been an aim of China and North Korea for a long time, and we can't allow this to happen. That would be falling into a terrible trap." Trump and Abe so far seem to have forged a sort of friendship, but even that bonhomie was revealed to be limited at their last meeting.
On Thursday, it could again be put to the test -- beyond North Korea, they are also meant to discuss the thorny issue of tariffs, which Washington says were put in place to protect American workers.
"I will stress that measures to restrict trade would not serve the interests of any country," Abe said before heading to Washington.
Japan had hoped to convince the US to shield it from fresh tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and did not hide its bitter disappointment when those talks failed.
The government in Tokyo warned of the "grave impact" that US tariffs could have on bilateral ties and the world trading system.
"The US government's trade measures, citing its security, makes us concerned that they could disrupt the global market," government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Monday. (AFP)
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Hello Jammu News at 6:56:00 AM 0


Washington, May 29 : President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed today that it is "imperative" to completely dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program, the White House said.

During a telephone call, the pair "discussed recent developments in North Korea and confirmed they would meet again to continue close coordination in advance of the expected meeting between the United States and North Korea," a statement read.

"The president and prime minister affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs." (AFP) CK

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Hello Jammu News at 4:02:00 PM 0


Tokyo, Apr 17: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday departed for the United States to hold a two-day summit with the US President Donald Trump, Xinhua reported.
During Abe's sixth face-to-face meeting with Trump to be held at the American leader's Florida resort, Abe said he's hoping to reinforce the Japan-US alliance.
"We will affirm cooperation between Japan and the United States and demonstrate the strong bond of the Japan-US alliance through the summit," Abe was quoted as telling reporters prior to leaving for Haneda airport in Tokyo.
Abe will also be looking to discuss issues pertaining to the Korean Peninsular, according to government sources here and will likely lean on Trump regarding the importance of multilateral free trade deals as opposed to bilateral ones.
Japan is cagey about a bilateral deal with the US as it will likely involve heavy concessions being made on sensitive sectors here including autos and farming. UNI
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Hello Jammu News at 1:08:00 PM 0


Tokyo, Mar 30: External affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. During her meeting with the Japanese PM, Ms Swaraj conveyed to him greetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 
According to the spokesperson of the external affairs ministry, in his meeting with the external affairs Minister, Japanese PM Abe said traditional friendship are characterised by heart-to-heart bonds and blessed with a huge potential for growth.
EAM Sushma Swaraj called on Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo on Friday morning in Tokyo. EAM conveyed the greetings of PM Narendra Modi to PM Abe. PM Abe said that traditional friendship are characterised by heart-to-heart bonds and blessed with a huge potential for growth,'Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet. UNI
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Hello Jammu News at 4:14:00 PM 0


Tokyo, Mar 29: Japan wants its own bilateral summit with Pyongyang to ensure that any potential peace deal will serve Tokyo's security concerns, experts have said, according to a CNBC report. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is worried about being sidelined at a proposed meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Warming up to Tokyo could help Kim disrupt American efforts to maximize pressure on his administration.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, worried about being sidelined at a proposed meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, wants its own talks with the rogue state. That could ultimately be beneficial for Pyongyang.
Tokyo has expressed a desire to meet with North Korea, the Asahi newspaper reported on Thursday. The conversation could take place in June, after May's anticipated sit-down between Kim and Trump.
Abe is likely proposing this summit because he doesn't want Trump and Kim to reach a deal that doesn't suit Japan's security concerns, according to experts.
Tokyo has made efforts to reach out to Pyongyang ever since it got wind that Trump accepted Kim's invitation to meet, said Lisa Collins, fellow with the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: "They don't want to be left out of any sort of deal that would be made, and they're very anxious to get their foot in the door."
Tokyo has long demanded complete denuclearisation from the pariah state, but that might not be on the table at the Trump-Kim summit.
Abe also wants to ensure a safe return for the kidnapped Japanese citizens, who may still be alive, Nagy continued.
Japan's foreign minister said this week that Tokyo and Washington were "completely in sync" on North Korea. But many have said Abe feels slighted by the fact that Trump, who has flaunted his close relationship with the Japanese leader, didn't give him a heads-up on the Kim meeting.
Tokyo's fear of being left out of critical decisions that affect it is known as "Japan passing," said Sean King, senior vice president at New York-based consulting firm Park Strategies. The term comes from "Korea passing" as South Koreans faced the same worry on Trump and Kim, he added. UNI
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Hello Jammu News at 11:57:00 AM 0


Tokyo, Jan 5: Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called the prospect of a nuclear-capable North Korea "absolutely unacceptable" and said the security situation facing his country was the severest since the Second World War, a CNN report has said.
Prime Minister Abe urged the international community to apply concerted pressure to the rogue nation in an attempt to coerce its regime into giving up its nuclear ambitions.
"A nuclear armed North Korea is absolutely unacceptable," he said at a news conference Thursday in Japan's Mie prefecture, following a New Year's visit to the famous Ise Shrine.
Tensions in the region have remained high in recent months. In September, the North Korean regime carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test. Its most recent missile test -- during the early hours of November 29 -- landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone.
"Without giving in to any provocative action, we must change the North Korea's policy by maximizing the pressure in complete solidarity with the international community," Abe said.
Abe underlined the graveness of the situation by comparing it to the Second World War, a conflict which was finally ended with the dropping of two atom bombs -- the precursor to today's nuclear weapons -- on Japanese cities.
"It is not an exaggeration to say the security environment surrounding Japan is at its severest since the war," he said.
"By raising pressure on North Korea together with the international community, I intend to do my utmost to solve North Korea's nuclear, missile and abduction issues."
The stark warnings are at odds with a renewed sense of cautious optimism felt in nearby South Korea. UNI
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Hello Jammu News at 2:46:00 PM 0

Manila, Nov 14: On the last day of his three-day visit to the Philippines for the crucial ASEAN and East Asia Summits, PM Modi today held one-on-one dialogues with his counterparts from Japan and Australia -- Shinzo Abe and Malcom Turnbull  giving a "new vigour" to the bilateral ties.
"Delighted to have met you, Prime Minister @TurnbullMalcolm. Our talks today add new vigour to the friendship between India and Australia," the Prime Minister tweeted in response to a missive from the Australian leader. For his part, Mr Turnbull earlier tweeted saying, "Productive meeting this morning in Manila with Prime Minister @narendramodi focused on increased economic cooperation, security, and counter-terrorism. #ASEANSummit".  Continuing with his high-level bilateral engagements here on the the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit and other related conclaves, the Prime Minister on Tuesday met his Japanese counterpart and a "valued friend". Besides, Mr Modi interacted with the New Zealand Prime Minister. "Wonderful meeting with PM @jacindaardern. We discussed deepening economic and cultural cooperation between India and New Zealand," he wrote in a twitter post. Mr Modi also met Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam. He also met leaders from Vietnam. "Meeting a valued friend and a trusted partner. PM @narendramodi and PM @AbeShinzo held a wide ranging and engaging discussion on intensifying Special Strategic and Global Partnership between the two countries," MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar tweeted posting a photograph of Mr Modi and Mr Shinzo Abe shaking hands. On his interaction with Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister wrote, "My friend @AbeShinzo and I had an excellent meeting in Manila. We reviewed the ground covered on various aspects of India-Japan ties and discussed ways to deepen cooperation between our economies and people". In another tweet, Mr Kumar said, "PM @narendramodi met with Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam. Both leaders had fruitful discussions on expanding bilateral partnership, specially in trade and investment, renewable energy, culture and people to people contacts". The Prime Minister met his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc. "Strengthening comprehensive strategic partnership. Prime Minister @narendramodi and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc of Vietnam shared common goal to deepen bilateral relations between the two countries," the MEA spokesman said in his missive in the micro blogging site.
During the last three-day high-level diplomatic engagements, Mr Modi also met US President Donald Trump and Philippines Prez Rodrigo Duterte. Officials from India, Australia, Japan and the US on November 12 held a crucial meeting giving for the first time a concrete strategy to the much talked about strategic tie up amongst themselves to take on China. UNI
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Hello Jammu News at 12:58:00 PM 0

Manila, Nov 14: Continuing with his high-level bilateral engagements here on the the sidelines of ASEAN Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met his Japanese counterpart and a "valued friend" Shinzo Abe. 
Mr Modi also met Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam. The Prime Minister discussed bilateral issues and also matters related to trade, investment and for enhanced cooperation in renewable energy and people to people contacts. "Meeting a valued friend and a trusted partner. PM @narendramodi and PM @AbeShinzo held a wide ranging and engaging discussion on intensifying Special Strategic and Global Partnership between the two countries," MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar tweeted posting a photograph of Mr Modi and Mr Shinzo Abe shaking hands. In another tweet, Mr Kumar said, "PM @narendramodi met with Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam. Both leaders had fruitful discussions on expanding bilateral partnership, especially in trade and investment, renewable energy, culture and people to people contacts". In two other important engagements, Mr Modi met his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc. "Strengthening comprehensive strategic partnership. Prime Minister @narendramodi and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc of Vietnam shared common goal to deepen bilateral relations between the two countries," the MEA spokesman said in his missive in the micro blogging site. For Mr Modi's meeting with Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull, the MEA tweet said: "A strategic partnership defined by close co-operation and multifaceted interaction. Prime Minister @narendramodi and Prime Minister @TurnbullMalcolm meet in Manila, discuss close cooperation to optimize significant potential for further cooperation across a broad range of areas. Besides meeting US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Modi on Monday also held talks with the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. "Had a productive meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte. We had extensive discussions on enhancing India-Philippines bilateral cooperation, especially in trade, business and culture," Mr Modi said in his tweet. India and the Philippines on Monday also inked pacts for enhanced cooperation in multiple sectors including in defence industry, MSMEs and agriculture. UNI
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Hello Jammu News at 4:20:00 PM 0

Tokyo, Nov 6: President Donald Trump has said that the mass shooting at a Texas church was the result of a "mental health problem at the highest level." Speaking at an event with the Japanese Prime Minister Abe in Tokyo on Monday, Trump described the gunman as a "very deranged individual." The US authorities in Washington that 26 people were killed and about 20 others were wounded Sunday after a man, identified as 26-year-old Devin Kelley, opened fire inside the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs. They have not yet determined a motive for the shooting, and have not broached the topic of the gunman's mental health, the ABC News report said. UNI
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Hello Jammu News at 4:32:00 PM 0

Pyongyang, Oct 30: North Korea has accused Japan's ruling party of playing up a nuclear threat posed by Pyongyang to achieve a huge win in last weekend's general election. The North's Korea-Asia-Pacific Peace Committee also criticised Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for planning to ask US President Donald Trump to ratchet up pressure on Pyongyang when he visits Tokyo early next month. In a statement carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency, the committee claimed that in campaigning ahead of the Oct. 22 election, Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (IDP) "kicked up a hysteric anti-(Pyongyang) racket, noisily trumpeting about the story of nuclear threat from the north and solution to the abduction of Japanese." The LDP won 284 of the 465 seats in the election, and together with its smaller coalition partner, Komeito, secured a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives. During the election campaign, Abe focused on Japan's heightened security concerns given North Korea's continued testing of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in defiance of UN resolutions forbidding such activity and crippling economic sanctions, a Kyodo report added. Earlier this week, Japan's Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso attributed the ruling party's electoral victory to North Korea's rising threat, a view he altered on Friday in the face of criticism from opposition lawmakers. "Abe and his group should know that they are playing a dangerous gamble by putting the prospect of their island country and the destiny of their people at stake," the North Korean statement said. UNI
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