China News Network, September 27 (Reporter Meng Xiangjun) 19 condolence salutes were fired, and on September 27, local time, the funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated, was held in Tokyo. Abe became the country's second post-war former prime minister to enjoy "state funeral" treatment.
However, Abe's posthumous events continue to be stormy, crossing the "three hurdles" full of challenges and controversies, and the funeral is finally held, but will everything calm down?
[The first hurdle: public opinion opposition]
On September 19, Japan was hit by typhoon Nammadu, but the storm of public opinion seemed to be more turbulent, and about 13,000 people braved the wind and rain to protest in Tokyo, and they only called for one thing - to cancel the state funeral for Abe.
On September 27, local time, the Japanese government held a funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Nihon Budokan in Tokyo.
One of the organizers of the rally, the documentary writer Kei Kamada, criticized the government's practice of "unconstitutional" that the cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made the state funeral decision without passing the vote or discussion of the National Assembly.
The protests continued until the day of the funeral. A civil society group filed a lawsuit against the state funeral, which was rejected by the local court and continued to appeal; Others set themselves on fire near the prime minister's official residence in opposition to the state funeral, and were sent to the hospital after being burned all over their bodies.
According to the poll, 67.2% of Japanese respondents believe that Kishida's cabinet did not give a full explanation for the need to hold a state funeral. More than 70 percent of Japanese respondents also believe the government spends too much on funerals. The protesters made it clear that they do not want the Japanese authorities to waste tax money and want to use it to fund people living in difficulty.
On September 27, local time, the funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was held at the Tokyo Budokan.
The BBC previously estimated that the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, who died not long ago, cost 8 million pounds, or about 1.26 billion yen, but Abe's funeral cost 1.66 billion yen, higher than the Queen. 50% of the funds are used to enhance on-site security, and another 1/3 is used to receive foreign guests.
Abe's opponents also recalled his attempts to "whitewash Japan's wartime atrocities, push for more military spending, and hold reactionary views on gender roles." The New York Times pointed out that this funeral has become a "referendum" to evaluate Abe's previous administration.
[The Second Hurdle: Collusion between State and Religion]
Civil discontent has pushed Kishida's government's approval ratings to its lowest level since he came to power. At present, its cabinet approval rating has fallen to about 42%, a sharp drop of 12 percentage points from August.
Reuters believes that the funeral has deepened the "division" of Japanese society. The Associated Press analyzed that despite the opposition, Kishida still insisted on the state funeral in an attempt to please the ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers of Abe's conservative political faction in order to consolidate his control of power.
Japan's funeral for Abe, who evaluates polarization, has attracted strong opposition. Image source: Reuters report screenshot
The New York Times revealed that Kishida and his cabinet unilaterally imposed Abe's state funeral on the state, which is equivalent to recognizing the LDP's relationship with the Unification Church.
Headquartered in South Korea, the Unification Church is quite active in Japan and has been involved in many disputes. It was Abe's grandfather, former Japanese leader Nobusuke Kishi, who helped take root in Japan. The suspect who assassinated Abe, Toru Yamamoto, also angrily accused the Unification Church of amassing wealth and defrauding his mother of almost all of her assets — nearly $1 million, and decided to punish Abe, who was the "platform" of the religion.
Perhaps the biggest turning point, the New York Times analysis, is that the suspect's statement on the mountain has not only not been reprimanded, but has aroused great resonance among the Japanese public. Japanese media have "unusually" continuously exposed the relationship between the Unification Church and the LDP, and nearly half of the 379 LDP MPs currently admit to collusion with the Unification Church.
On July 10, the suspect who shot Abe, Toru Yamami, was also handed over to the Nara Prefecture District Prosecutor's Office.
Kawasaki, a journalist who tracked the public reaction to Abe's death, said Japan's stagnant growth and widening inequality over the past few decades had left some people with a "strong sense of victimization" and a "blow from uncontrollable economic and social forces."
Lu Yaodong, a researcher at the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out to China News Network that after World War II, Japan established the principle of separation of church and state in the constitution, but as the ruling party, many factions in the LDP are related to the Unification Church, which violates the principles of the constitution.
This touched the emotions of Japanese society, especially the bottom of the population, and led to a rise in the opposition to the state funeral. Although Kishida said that the party wants to cut off from the church, judging from the current performance, he has dodged and does not want to "open the lid".
This also reflects that the Liberal Democratic Party, which has long been a one-party monopoly, has not really listened to the people's voices in the face of the serious epidemic and weak economy in Japan, but has looked outward, such as strengthening its alliance with the United States, hyping up the "East Asian threat theory", and increasing military spending.
【The Third Hurdle: Diplomacy of Condolence】
As the "vanguard" of "value diplomacy", Abe put forward and peddled ideas such as the Indo-Pacific strategy and the US-Japan-India-Australia quadrilateral security dialogue, promoting the formation of a camp in the Asia-Pacific region that conforms to the values of the United States and the West, and consolidating the value alliance system, so it is highly respected by the United States and the West, Lu Yaodong pointed out.
At the same time, we must also clearly see that Abe has created trouble in East Asia, which has caused great trouble for peace and stability in East Asia, and he is also a "saboteur."
Who will send Abe on his last journey? Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Hiroichi Matsuno, previously said about 4,300 people attended the funeral, of whom about 700 were from overseas, and about 50 current and former heads of state.
A list of dignitaries from various countries attending Abe's funeral, including:
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc
President of the European Council Michelle
Australian Prime Minister Albanis
IOC President Bach
……
Source: U.S. Vice President Harris. Photo by Sha Hanting, a reporter from the China News Service
The United States sent Vice President Harris to Abe's funeral. In addition to Kishida, all G7 leaders were absent, including Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, who was previously considered the only one who could go, who also postponed his trip because he stayed at home to deal with Hurricane Fiona.
Many of the politicians who came forward were "politicians of the previous generation", such as former British Prime Minister Theresa May, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, former German President Wulf, and former Italian Prime Minister Renzi. However, former US President Barack Obama, who visited Hiroshima, the victim of the nuclear explosion, and former US President Donald Trump, who established a "honeymoon relationship" between the United States and Japan, did not attend.
Japan's Kyodo News Agency quoted a person from the Japanese prime minister's official residence as saying that the list of people attending the funeral "can hardly be said to be a luxurious lineup", and that this state funeral may fall into a "situation of improper name and bad speech"; Members of the main opposition parties, the Japanese Cadets, the Japanese Communist Party and other members, also announced a boycott of the funeral.
On May 27, 2016 local time, US President Barack Obama, accompanied by then-Prime Minister Abe of Japan, visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and laid a wreath.
Kishida Fumio insisted on seizing the opportunity of "condolence diplomacy" and held talks with US Vice President Harris and other dignitaries who visited Japan for the first time since taking office, in order to show their inheritance of "Abe diplomacy."
Lu Yaodong analyzed that from the current situation, Kishida's "condolence diplomacy" and its expected effect are very different, including the reaction of the G7 countries and the strong opposition of Japanese society, which are not fully anticipated by the Kishida government. But as the ruler, it still has to move forward.
Bloomberg commented that Kishida decided to hold a state funeral for Abe in order to give Japan a "moment of unity", however, the funeral overdrew Abe's "legacy" left to the Liberal Democratic Party. Koichi Nakano, a professor of political science at Sophia University in Tokyo, believes that Kishida hopes to "deify Abe and cover up history" with a state funeral, but it is difficult to ensure that history evaluates him positively. (End)