On the lookout: A People’s Liberation Army member looking through binoculars during military exercises as Taiwan’s frigate ‘Lan Yang’ is seen at the rear. — AP
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he will reshuffle his Cabinet next week to address mounting issues including Taiwan tensions, Covid-19 and economic stimulus measures to counter inflation.
“We need to set off a new formation as soon as possible considering the various issues,” he told a news conference in Hiroshima yesterday.
The earlier-than-expected staff change also comes as his administration faces increasing public scrutiny on the relationship between the religious group Unification Church and ruling party lawmakers, including slain former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of Kishida’s ruling coalition partner Komeito party, said news conference that Kishida had informed him the Cabinet reshuffle would be announced on Wednesday.
Kishida did not give any details of his Cabinet changes but the Yomiuri daily reported earlier that he would likely replace Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi, given his health issues.
Defence is in the spotlight with tension surging between self-ruled Taiwan and mainland China in recent days.
A recent surge of Covid-19 to record-high infection numbers poses another problem for Japan.
A reorganisation of the Cabinet and ruling party officials was slated for early September, after a memorial service for Abe who was shot dead last month, but Kishida brought it forward to address falling approval for the cabinet in polls, the Yomiuri said.
Kishida was also asked at the news conference about the Unification Church, a religious group to which the mother of the man who shot Abe belonged, and which has been reported to have had particularly close links with Abe’s faction of the LDP.
Kishida said he would order the cabinet to scrutinise any links between the church and cabinet members, including deputy ministers, and review them into “appropriate forms” to seek the public’s understanding. — Reuters
