Japan's reelected Prime Minister Ishiba vows to step up reform

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pledged to take tougher measures against misuse of political funds after he was reelected by parliament Monday following a major loss in the polls last month by his governing coalition.

Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito together lost a majority in the 465-seat Lower House, the more powerful of Japan’s two-house parliament, in the Oct. 27 election. The defeat was blamed on voter outrage over financial misconduct by his party.

“We must remind ourselves of the basics that politics is for the people, as we tackle political and party reforms," Ishiba said. He said that in response to the poor election results, "We must be able to have empathy for the pain, sorrow and anger of the people.”

A special parliamentary session convened Monday to pick a new leader in a vote required within 30 days of a general election. Ishiba beat top opposition leader Yoshihiko Noda 221-160 in the first runoff in 30 years.

In his second Cabinet in just over a month, Ishiba reappointed most of its previous members, including Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi. He replaced three ministers who lost seats or were affected by the election results.

Ishiba stressed the importance of pursuing the significant buildup of Japan's defense power to deal with growing threats from China, Russia and North Korea, while cooperating with its ally the United States and other like-minded partners.

He said he plans to attend Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Group of 20 summits later this month to further strengthen partnership with the Global South nations and the Asia-Pacific region. He said he will hold talks with U.S. President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and other leaders.

His government is also reportedly arranging a possible meeting with President-elect Donald Trump on his way home.

Ishiba has refused to step down and showed willingness to cooperate with additional coalition partners to boost stability and help him pursue his party’s policies.

Ishiba will struggle in the coming months to gain consent from the opposition on policies including the budget and other legislation, experts say. Ishiba said he will listen to opposition parties more carefully than before.

“While we stick to the LDP-Komei partnership as the foundation, we will do our utmost to gain understanding of as many other parties as possible as we humbly work to ensure safety and security of the people,” Ishiba said.

He wants to cooperate more closely with a rising smaller, conservative Democratic Party for the People, whose seats quadrupled to 28 under its popular leader Yuichiro Tamaki. His proposal for raising the basic tax-free income allowance and increasing take-home wages garnered support from low-income and younger voters.

Tamaki only wants to cooperate with Ishiba’s party on policy — not as part of a coalition — since he wants to use his leverage to increase his party’s standing ahead of the next election.

Tamaki was recently stung by a magazine article exposing an extramarital affair, which he admitted to on Monday.

This story has been corrected to show the summit is Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, not ASEAN.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, right, speaks with other lawmakers at a special parliamentary session of the lower house Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Keisuke Suzuki, newly appointed justice minister, walks at the prime minister's office Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Defense Minister Gen Nakatani arrives at the prime minister's office Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Junko Mihara, minister in charge of Policies Related to Children, walks at the prime minister's office Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato arrives at the prime minister's office Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya arrives at the prime minister's office Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Hiromasa Nakano, newly appointed minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, arrives at the Prime Minister's office Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Taku Eto, newly appointed Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, arrives at the prime minister's office Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

A staff member at parliament puts up two names, Shigeru Ishiba (of Japanese Prime Minister), right, and Yoshihiko Noda (leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party) for a runoff vote for a new prime minister at a special parliamentary session of the lower house Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party, votes for the new prime minister at the parliament's lower house Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waits after the first vote for a new prime minister at a special parliamentary session of the lower house Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Lawmakers applaud as Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, second left on top, was elected for a new prime minister at a special parliamentary session of the lower house Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Lawmakers applaud as Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, top center, was elected for a new prime minister at a special parliamentary session of the lower house Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Lawmakers applaud as Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, standing, was elected for a new prime minister at a special parliamentary session of the lower house Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, center, queues for a runoff vote for a new prime minister at a special parliamentary session of the lower house Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, center, reacts as he was elected for a new prime minister at a special parliamentary session of the lower house Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, makes a parliamentary vote for a new leader during a special parliamentary session of the lower house, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Yoshihiko Noda, center, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, attends a special parliamentary session of the lower house for parliamentary voting for a new leader, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Lawmakers vote for the new prime minister at the parliament's lower house Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Lawmakers vote for the new prime minister at the parliament's lower house Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, center, attends a special parliamentary session of the lower house before a parliamentary vote for a new leader Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A group of Japanese lawmakers, center, arrive at the parliament in Tokyo Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

A group of Japanese lawmakers, center, arrive at the parliament in Tokyo Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, center, arrives at his office in Tokyo Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — More than two dozen world leaders are delivering remarks at the United Nations' annual climate conference Wednesday, with many hart-hit nations detailing their nations' firsthand experience with the catastrophic weather that has come with climate change.

Leader after leader recounted climate disasters, with each one seeming to top the other. Grenada's prime minister Dickon Mitchell detailed a 15-month drought at the beginning of the year giving way to a Category 5 Hurricane Beryl.

“At this very moment, as I stand here yet again, my island has been devastated by flash flooding, landslides and the deluge of excessive rainfall, all in the space of a matter of a couple hours,” Mitchell said. “It may be small island developing states today. It will be Spain tomorrow. It will be Florida the day after. It’s one planet.”

Grenada's premier wasn't the only small island nation leader who came with fighting words.

Prime minister Philip Edward Davis warned that “it will be our children and grandchildren who bear the burden, their dreams reduced to memories of what could have been.”

“We do not — cannot — accept that our survival is merely an option,” Davis said.

Davis said too often progress in the fight against climate change gets hurt when governments change, as is happening in the United States and Germany.

“If we leave climate action to the whims of political cycles, our planet’s future becomes precarious, very precarious,” Davis said. “The climate crisis does not pause for elections or to accommodate the way of changing political ideas or ties. It demands continuity, commitment and most of all, solidarity.”

Leaders on a panel with members of the High Ambition Coalition, a group of nations that want to see strong climate action, highlighted the “inverted morality” of big emitters who aren’t taking responsibility for their impacts on countries who have the most to lose.

Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, said high-polluting nations are “deliberately burning the planet."

Past promises of financial aid went unfulfilled for too long, so small island nations will have to seek justice and compensation in international courts, he said.

Marshall Islands president Hilda Heine called the climate crisis “the most pressing security threat” her country faces, but said she thinks the Paris Agreement process — where countries agreed to limit warming to 1.5 degrees (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times — is resilient.

Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev took the opportunity to align his country with the predicament of small island developing states in a speech where he called out developed countries, in particular France and the Netherlands, for their colonial histories.

He described the harms of colonialism that continue today. Biodiversity loss, rising seas and extreme weather hit communities that are often “ruthlessly suppressed,” he said.

“But what else can we expect,” he said, “if chief European diplomat Josep Borrell calls Europe a garden and the rest of the world jungles?” He referenced a 2022 speech in which Borrell said that Europe — “a nice small garden” — had to go to the developing world to tend to their “jungles.”

European nations also warned of climate catastrophe on their continent.

“Over the past year, catastrophic floods in Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as in southern Croatia have shown the devastating impact of rising temperatures,” said Croatia's prime minister, Andrej Plenkovic. “The Mediterranean, one of the most vulnerable regions, calls for urgent action.”

Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama said he was dismayed by the lack of political action and political will and leaders of many nations not showing up at climate talks as extreme weather strikes harder and more frequently.

“What is happening in Europe and around the world today doesn’t leave much room for optimism, though optimism is the only way of survival,” Rama said.

Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Europe and the world needs to be “more honest” about the trade-offs needed to keep global temperatures down.

“We need to ask hard questions about a path that goes very fast, at the expense of our competitiveness, and a path that goes some much slower, but allows our industry to adapt and to thrive,” he said. His nation this summer was hammered by successive heat waves after three years of below-average rainfall. The misery included water shortages, dried-up lakes and the death of wild horses.

Ireland environment minister Eamon Ryan channeled some hope, saying that the 2015 Paris climate treaty “still lives” and that countries who drop out will realize they are falling behind as other countries move forward and see benefits to their economies.

Associated Press writers Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles contributed.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan president, speaks at a summit of the leaders of Small Islands Developing States at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Eamon Ryan, Ireland climate minister, speaks at a session with the Marshall Islands High Ambition Coalition at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks during a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine attends a session with the Marshall Islands High Ambition Coalition at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Czech Republic Prime Minister Petr Fiala speaks during a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

People walk through the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

People arrive for the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)