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Kishida will not seek another term, meaning Japan will get a new prime minister in September

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Kishida will not seek another term, meaning Japan will get a new prime minister in September
News

News

Kishida will not seek another term, meaning Japan will get a new prime minister in September

2024-08-15 09:57 Last Updated At:10:01

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in a surprise move Wednesday, announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, paving the way for Japan to have a new prime minister.

Kishida was elected president of his governing Liberal Democratic Party and became prime minister in 2021. His three-year term expires in September and whoever wins the party vote will succeed him as prime minister because the LDP controls both houses of parliament. A new face is a chance for the party to show that it's changing for the better, and Kishida said he will support the new leader.

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Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida prepares to leave at the end of a press conference at his office in Tokyo after he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida prepares to leave at the end of a press conference at his office in Tokyo after he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo to announce he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Japan Pool/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo to announce he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Japan Pool/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo to announce he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Japan Pool/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo to announce he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Japan Pool/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives for a press conference at his office in Tokyo Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives for a press conference at his office in Tokyo Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo as he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo as he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo as he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo as he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo as he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo as he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a press conference in Hiroshima, western Japan Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024 after he attended an annual ceremony marking the 79th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a press conference in Hiroshima, western Japan Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024 after he attended an annual ceremony marking the 79th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing. (Kyodo News via AP)

FILE - Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, June 21, 2024. (Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, June 21, 2024. (Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP, File)

“We need to clearly show an LDP reborn,” Kishida told a news conference on Wednesday. “In order to show a changing LDP, the most obvious first step is for me to bow out.”

“I will not run for the upcoming party leadership election,” he said.

Stung by his party’s corruption scandals, Kishida has suffered dwindling support ratings that have dipped below 20%.

Regaining public trust in politics is crucial for tackling difficult situations in and outside Japan, he said and called on aspiring party lawmakers to run for leadership and hold active policy debates during the campaign.

“Once a new leader is decided, I hope to see everyone unite and form a dream team to achieve politics that can gain public understanding,” he said.

Kishida said he has been mulling the resignation for some time but waited to put his key policies on track, including an energy policy that calls for a return to nuclear power, a drastic military buildup to deal with security threats in the region, and improving ties with South Korea, as well as political reforms.

President Joe Biden lauded Kishida's leadership as historic, saying the two of them have worked together to take the U.S.-Japan alliance “to new heights.”

“Guided by unflinching courage and moral clarity, Prime Minister Kishida has transformed Japan’s role in the world,” Biden said in a statement, adding that Kishida’s “courageous leadership will be remembered on both sides of the Pacific for decades to come.”

The U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, also praised Kishida's effort in elevating the U.S.-Japan alliance while also developing separate trilaterals, one with South Korea and another with the Philippines, in the face of China's growing influence.

Biden and Kishida “literally wrote the organizing chapter of the next era,” Emanuel said.

However, the leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, Kenta Izumi, said Kishida may have given up on pursuing party reforms and the investigation into the corruption scandals.

“Whenever the party is in crisis, LDP, for its own survival, has repeatedly changed prime minister and party leader to reset and have voters forget the past,” Izumi said. “It's their strategy and people should not be tricked by it.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had no comment on the announcement but U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that "certainly, the secretary-general has been very pleased to be working with prime minister Kishida during his time in office."

A number of senior LDP lawmakers are considered potential candidates, including Kishida's rival and party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi and former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, a favorite among voters. Three others who challenged Kishida in the 2021 vote — Digital Minister Taro Kono, Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi and former Gender Equality Minister Seiko Noda — are also considered potential contenders.

A winner will replace Kishida as party president, and will be endorsed as the new prime minister in a parliamentary vote soon after. LDP executives are set to decide next week on the date for the party election, expected sometime between Sept. 20 and Sept. 29.

Since the corruption scandal broke, Kishida has removed a number of Cabinet ministers and others from party executive posts, dissolved most party factions that were criticized as the source of money-for-favor politics, and tightened a political funds control law. Ten people — lawmakers and their aides — were indicted in January.

Despite Kishida's efforts, support for his government dwindled.

Local election losses earlier in the year eroded his clout, and LDP lawmakers voiced the need for a fresh face ahead of the next general election, which could be held any time by October 2025. Major losses in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly in July elections also added to the push.

The scandal centers on unreported political funds raised through tickets sold for party events. It involved more than 80 LDP lawmakers, mostly belonging to a major party faction previously led by assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The assassination surfaced a scandal over the LDP's decades-old, deep-rooted ties with the Unification Church, for which Kishida has also faced criticism.

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida prepares to leave at the end of a press conference at his office in Tokyo after he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida prepares to leave at the end of a press conference at his office in Tokyo after he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo to announce he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Japan Pool/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo to announce he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Japan Pool/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo to announce he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Japan Pool/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo to announce he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Japan Pool/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives for a press conference at his office in Tokyo Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives for a press conference at his office in Tokyo Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo as he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo as he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo as he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo as he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo as he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at his office in Tokyo as he announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (Philip Fong/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a press conference in Hiroshima, western Japan Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024 after he attended an annual ceremony marking the 79th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a press conference in Hiroshima, western Japan Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024 after he attended an annual ceremony marking the 79th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing. (Kyodo News via AP)

FILE - Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, June 21, 2024. (Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, June 21, 2024. (Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Next Article

The Gulf of Whatnow? Mapmakers grapple with Trump's geographic renaming plans

2025-01-23 15:31 Last Updated At:15:40

What's in a name change, after all?

The water bordered by the Southern United States, Mexico and Cuba will be critical to shipping lanes and vacationers whether it’s called the Gulf of Mexico, as it has been for four centuries, or the Gulf of America, as President Donald Trump ordered this week. North America’s highest mountain peak will still loom above Alaska whether it’s called Mt. Denali, as ordered by former President Barack Obama in 2015, or changed back to Mt. McKinley as Trump also decreed.

But Trump's territorial assertions, in line with his “America First” worldview, sparked a round of rethinking by mapmakers and teachers, snark on social media and sarcasm by at least one other world leader. And though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis put the Trumpian “Gulf of America” on an official document and some other gulf-adjacent states were considering doing the same, it was not clear how many others would follow Trump's lead.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum joked that if Trump went ahead with the renaming, her country would rename North America “Mexican America.” On Tuesday, she toned it down: “For us and for the entire world it will continue to be called the Gulf of Mexico.”

Map lines are inherently political. After all, they're representations of the places that are important to human beings — and those priorities can be delicate and contentious, even more so in a globalized world.

There’s no agreed-upon scheme to name boundaries and features across the Earth.

“Denali” is the mountain's preferred name for Alaska Natives, while “McKinley" is a tribute to President William McKinley, designated in the late 19th century by a gold prospector. China sees Taiwan as its own territory, and the countries surrounding what the United States calls the South China Sea have multiple names for the same body of water.

The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although usage of “Gulf” and “Arabian Gulf” is dominant in many countries in the Middle East. The government of Iran — formerly Persia — threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the company’s decision not to label the body of water at all on its maps. Many Arab countries don’t recognize Israel and instead call it Palestine. And in many official releases, Israel calls the occupied West Bank by its biblical name, “Judea and Samaria.”

Americans and Mexicans diverge on what to call another key body of water, the river that forms the border between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Americans call it the Rio Grande; Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo.

Trump's executive order — titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness” — concludes thusly: “It is in the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes. The naming of our national treasures, including breathtaking natural wonders and historic works of art, should honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans in our Nation’s rich past.”

But what to call the gulf with the 3,700-mile coastline?

“It is, I suppose, an internationally recognized sea, but (to be honest), a situation like this has never come up before so I need to confirm the appropriate convention,” said Peter Bellerby, who said he was talking over the issue with the cartographers at his London company, Bellerby & Co. Globemakers. “If, for instance, he wanted to change the Atlantic Ocean to the American Ocean, we would probably just ignore it."

As of Wednesday night, map applications for Google and Apple still called the mountain and the gulf by their old names. Spokespersons for those platforms did not immediately respond to emailed questions.

A spokesperson for National Geographic, one of the most prominent map makers in the U.S., said this week that the company does not comment on individual cases and referred questions to a statement on its web site, which reads in part that it "strives to be apolitical, to consult multiple authoritative sources, and to make independent decisions based on extensive research.” National Geographic also has a policy of including explanatory notes for place names in dispute, citing as an example a body of water between Japan and the Korean peninsula, referred to as the Sea of Japan by the Japanese and the East Sea by Koreans.

In discussion on social media, one thread noted that the Sears Tower in Chicago was renamed the Willis Tower in 2009, though it's still commonly known by its original moniker. Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg, renamed its Market Street to Martin Luther King Boulevard and then switched back to Market Street several years later — with loud complaints both times. In 2017, New York's Tappan Zee Bridge was renamed for the late Gov. Mario Cuomo to great controversy. The new name appears on maps, but “no one calls it that,” noted another user.

“Are we going to start teaching this as the name of the body of water?” asked one Reddit poster on Tuesday.

“I guess you can tell students that SOME PEOPLE want to rename this body of water the Gulf of America, but everyone else in the world calls it the Gulf of Mexico,” came one answer. “Cover all your bases — they know the reality-based name, but also the wannabe name as well.”

Wrote another user: “I'll call it the Gulf of America when I'm forced to call the Tappan Zee the Mario Cuomo Bridge, which is to say never.”

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Peter Bellerby, the founder of Bellerby & Co. Globemakers, holds a globe at a studio in London, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

FILE - Peter Bellerby, the founder of Bellerby & Co. Globemakers, holds a globe at a studio in London, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

FILE - A boat is seen on the Susitna River near Talkeetna, Alaska, on Sunday, June 13, 2021, with Denali in the background. Denali, the tallest mountain on the North American continent, is located about 60 miles northwest of Talkeetna. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

FILE - A boat is seen on the Susitna River near Talkeetna, Alaska, on Sunday, June 13, 2021, with Denali in the background. Denali, the tallest mountain on the North American continent, is located about 60 miles northwest of Talkeetna. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

FILE - The water in the Gulf of Mexico appears bluer than usual off of East Beach, Saturday, June 24, 2023, in Galveston, Texas. (Jill Karnicki/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)

FILE - The water in the Gulf of Mexico appears bluer than usual off of East Beach, Saturday, June 24, 2023, in Galveston, Texas. (Jill Karnicki/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)

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