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Japanese PM Fumio Kishida takes foreign minister role amid questions over ‘pro-China’ Yoshimasa Hayashi
- Surprise announcement comes after Toshimitsu Motegi was moved to role of secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, but Kishida’s time as foreign minister will be only brief
- Yoshimasa Hayashi had been seen as favourite to take over the foreign brief, but is unpopular with conservatives for his stance on Beijing. Even so, some describe Hayashi as ‘a Washington hand’ and he may yet be given a chance
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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a surprise announcement on Thursday that he would also temporarily take on the role of foreign minister after Toshimitsu Motegi was moved to the role of secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Kishida will take on both roles only briefly as a new cabinet is due to be unveiled next Wednesday.
The elevation of Motegi to what is effectively the second-in-command of the party was forced upon the prime minister after Akira Amari was defeated in Sunday’s election of the House of Representatives and resigned his position. Amari had only been named LDP secretary general a month earlier and his defeat was a shock and an embarrassment to the government.
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There has been widespread speculation that Kishida was planning to name Yoshimasa Hayashi, who has previously held the defence and agriculture portfolios, as his new foreign minister on Thursday, although there are suggestions that he has had a change of heart.
Sources say the conservative wing of the LDP – and former prime minister Shinzo Abe in particular – were strongly opposed to the elevation of 60-year-old Hayashi to the post. He is considered to be soft on China at a time when many in Japan see Beijing as the country’s biggest security threat, as well as sufficiently ambitious to have one eye on the post of prime minister for himself.
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