Global Affairs

Going ballistic - a major test for Abe's successor

Japan, which faces growing missile threats from North Korea and China, will have to decide if it will acquire offensive capabilities in response

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Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who leaves office this week, has failed to make good on many of his promises.

He vowed to revive his country's economy; for a while, "Abenomics" was quite a global trend, with some touting it as a new management philosophy. Yet, last year, Japan's gross domestic product stood at 553 trillion yen (S$7 trillion), well below the 600 trillion yen economy that Mr Abe promised to achieve by last year under his "Japan Revitalisation Plan".

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 14, 2020, with the headline Going ballistic - a major test for Abe's successor. Subscribe