In September 2013, Shinzo Abe went to the New York Stock Exchange to give a speech, and just a year after his second ascension to the throne, he told the Wall Street elite that three words were enough to restore the world economy, that is, "Buy my Abenomics" (believe my "Abenomics").
Now, nearly 10 years later, "Abenomics" has long been seen through by all sides, not so much to save the Japanese economy as to consolidate Abe's political position. The newly installed Kishida Fumio also knew this, so as soon as he came to power, he stressed the need to build a "new capitalism". Abenomics vs. New Capitalism, Abe and Kishida are directly on the bar.
On January 18, local time, Kishida attended the 2022 World Economic Forum video conference and once again high-profile propaganda "new capitalism". For Abe, although he has been in power for a long time, in fact, it is all dependent on his peers, and the famous political achievement is a "Abenomics". If Kishida's "new capitalism" completely replaces "Abenomics", Abe's political legacy will be completely stripped away, and it will be even more difficult to "advance to the third". Therefore, upon hearing Kishida's propaganda of "new capitalism," Abe could not sit still and personally went down to tear it up.
On the 19th, Nikkei Economics published an article signed by Abe, in which he criticized Kishida Fumio's new capitalist policy, and Abe directly declared that in order to make the economy grow, there was no other way but the "Abenomics" promoted when I was in power... Kishida should not change this foundation. It's almost a direct point at Kishida's nose: except for Abenomics, everything else is garbage, including your new capitalism.
Abe's article, titled "Should Show Enthusiasm for Economic Growth," was about the economy, but at the beginning of the article, Abe vigorously recalled his kindness to Kishida, claiming that in last year's LDP presidential election, Sanae Takashi, who he supported, finally transferred the vote to Kishida Fumio, and finally helped Kishida lock in the phase and won a big victory in the house election that followed. Abe then threatened to say he was unclear whether the Kishida regime would be able to maintain that momentum in the upcoming Senate elections this year.
Abe has carved out a subsection criticizing Kishida's economic claims, claiming that Kishida's "new capitalism" is incomprehensible and suggesting that it is completely impossible to rely on "new capitalism" to stabilize government operations and win the Senate election. After laying the groundwork for the above, Abe proposed that no one can achieve the major goal of economic growth except "Abenomics".
Japanese media commented that from the perspective of Abe personally criticizing Kishida, Abe's anger against Kishida has reached a boiling point. According to Japanese sources, Kishida was very calm about Abe's denial of "new capitalism," saying only that this was the embodiment of Abe's sense of crisis.
In fact, since the beginning of this year, Abe has frequently spoken out in the media, lashing out at Kishida. On January 1, Abe was interviewed by Fumiharu ONLINE, and even his grandfather, Kishi Nobusuke, a Class-A war criminal, moved out, and while he secretly poked and prodded Kishida for not being tough on China, he boasted that if Kishi Nobusuke saw that the Self-Defense Forces could now move with the US military, he should be relieved.
Abe had wanted to come back to power by supporting puppets and waiting for the epidemic crisis to pass, but Kishida, who had thought he was a good one, was now completely out of his control and tried to eliminate his political influence, which made the confrontation between the two more intense. In particular, when Kishida formed the cabinet for the second time, he appointed Abe's "natural enemy" Hayashi Yoshimasa as minister of foreign affairs. Relations between the two sides have deteriorated completely.
Since November last year, Abe has frequently made China-related and Taiwan-related remarks in an attempt to manipulate Sino-Japanese issues, interfere with Kishida's diplomatic progress, and force the Kishida cabinet to return to the old path of the Abe era, thereby consolidating his political position. Now that Abe and Kishida are on the same page, the next house election is likely to be a battleground for the two.