Prime Minister of Japan
Thursday, September 21, 2023
Video is available one week after the event date
Moderator:
Becky Quick
Co-Anchor Squawk Box, CNBC
ECNY Trustee
Fumio Kishida (born 29 July 1957) is a Japanese politician serving as prime minister of Japan and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. A member of the House of Representatives, he previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2017 and as acting Minister of Defense in 2017. From 2017 to 2020, he also chaired the LDP Policy Research Council.
Born into a political family, Kishida spent part of his childhood in the United States, where he attended elementary school in New York City. After beginning his career in finance, Kishida entered politics and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1993 as a member of the LDP. Kishida was appointed to various posts in the cabinets of prime ministers Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda from 2007 to 2008, and was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2012 after Abe regained the premiership following the 2012 general election, serving for five years and becoming the longest-serving Foreign Affairs Minister in Japanese history. Kishida resigned from the Abe cabinet in 2017 in order to head the LDP's Policy Research Council. Kishida also assumed control of the LDP's more moderate Kohikai faction in 2012 following the retirement of faction boss Makoto Koga.
Long considered a potential future prime minister, Kishida ran in the 2020 LDP leadership election, but lost to Yoshihide Suga. He ran again for the party leadership in 2021, this time winning in a second round run-off against opponent Taro Kono. Kishida was confirmed as Prime Minister by the National Diet four days later on 4 October 2021. He led the LDP to victory in the 2021 general election later that same month, albeit at a slightly reduced majority.
Kishida has been described as a moderate conservative and has stated that his premiership will focus on a "new model of capitalism", by seeking to implement redistributive policies to expand the middle class. On foreign policy he has continued strengthening the Quad Security Dialogue in pursuit of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy, taken steps to repair ties with South Korea and in 2022 instructed the cabinet to increase Japan's military budget by 65% by 2027. His premiership has seen political scandals related to the LDP's links to the Unification Church which came to public attention after the assassination of Shinzo Abe in 2022.
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