Yoshihide Suga: Japan’s ruling party picks PM’s successor

Japan’s ruling party has selected Yoshihide Suga as its new leader, making him all but certain to replace Shinzo Abe as PM.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, right, presents flowers to Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after Suga. Picture: Getty

Yoshihide Suga — the longtime right-hand man to Shinzo Abe with a weakness for Australian pancakes — is poised to become Japan’s next prime minister, amid speculation he may soon call a snap election for the world’s third-biggest economy.

On Monday afternoon, Mr Suga, 71, was comfortably elected the new president of Japan’s political juggernaut, the Liberal Democratic Party — his last major obstacle to the prime ministership.

Mr Suga, the son of strawberry farmers who once worked at a cardboard factory, is expected to be elected prime minister on Wednesday at an extraordinary session of the Diet, as key party figures suggested their new leader would soon call an election to shore up the government’s authority.

“I feel like (the new prime minister) is going to dissolve the lower house,” said Taro Aso, Deputy Prime Minister and an LDP heavyweight , speaking before the partyroom ballot.

Mr Suga secured 377 of a total of 534 valid votes. His rivals, former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba and LDP policy chief Fumio Kishida, trailed far behind.

The elevation of the low-key Mr Suga to lead Japan’s $7 trillion economy comes at a critical moment, with the coronavirus pandemic straining the national budget, increasing unemployment and rising tensions in the country’s security environment.

Speaking after winning the vote, Mr Suga clearly defined himself as a continuity figure.

“With this national crisis of the coronavirus, we can’t afford to have a political vacuum,” he said.

“In order to overcome the crisis and give the Japanese people a sense of relief, we need to succeed in what Prime Minister Abe has been implementing.”

Mr Abe — who last month became Japan’s longest continually serving prime minister only to suddenly resign at 65 because of ill-health — gave his behind-the-scenes endorsement to Mr Suga’s candidacy, according to reports in the Japanese press.

Yoshihide Suga as he is elected as new head of Japan’s ruling party. Picture: Getty

Mr Suga had long been a lieutenant figure in Japanese politics, after working as Mr Abe’s cabinet secretary for the entire eight years of his second stint as prime minister.

A trip to Washington in May 2019 to meet US Vice-President Mike Pence and other senior officials heightened speculation that Mr Suga was being groomed as Mr Abe’s successor.

That was followed by an increased interest by the Japanese press, which revealed a disciplined morning regime that begins at 5am when Mr Suga reads all the country’s major newspapers, then does 100 sit-ups and goes on a 40-minute morning walk, whatever the weather. The 65kg teetotaller does another 100 sit-ups in the evening, after a busy work day studded with breakfast and lunch meetings and often two more meetings over dinner.

Handling the relationship with America — whether managing the second term of a Trump administration or getting the attention of a domestically distracted Biden administration — looms as one of the new prime minister’s biggest challenges.

“He’s got a very good relationship with the bureaucracy. He knows how to get things done. But Suga doesn’t have the same sort of charisma as Abe,” said Shiro Armstrong, an expert on Japanese politics at the Australian National University.

Japan’s relations with South Korea have deteriorated in recent years over historical grievances, which the new leader may be able to ameliorate. South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month indicated a willingness to improve relations – a more likely prospect under the new administration.

China has also been closely watching the leadership process, with some in Beijing said to favour Mr Ishiba. A trip to Japan by China’s President Xi Jinping — scheduled for earlier in the year but cancelled because of the coronavirus – could be announced early in Mr Suga’s reign.

Little change is expected in the relationship between Australia and Japan, as the economic, political and security alignment between Australia and its second-biggest trading partner continues.

“Suga and Prime Minister Morrison will just pick up where Abe left off,” said Dr Armstrong.

A profile of Mr Suga last year in Japan’s main financial daily, Nikkei, suggests a rich diplomatic opportunity for the Morrison government — the new leader’s weakness for Australian chef Bill Granger’s ricotta hotcakes. “I might eat them maybe, well, on three or four days a week,” Mr Suga said of the signature dish at Granger’s upmarket cafe empire, Bills, which has four branches in Tokyo. “I sometimes eat them and later say, ‘Darn, I did it again!’.”