The Straits Times says

Suga can build on Abe's achievements

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Japan's first leadership change in nearly eight years saw Mr Yoshihide Suga elected in Parliament this week as the country's 99th prime minister. He takes over at a challenging time - Covid-19 has shrunk the economy by nearly 28 per cent on an annual basis in the second quarter. The fiscal stimulus of over US$2 trillion (S$2.7 trillion), or 40 per cent of gross domestic product, is a hefty addition to an already sizeable national debt, and the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were to have marked national regeneration under Mr Shinzo Abe, had to be put on hold. But the debut approval ratings of the new government, according to a Kyodo News poll, stand at 66.4 per cent, higher than Mr Abe's when he took office in 2012. Mr Suga, the son of a farmer from the job-scarce, depopulated Akita prefecture, is expected to tread in Mr Abe's footsteps. His priorities include reviving areas in decline like his own home town, digitalisation and deregulation.

Mr Suga is supposedly less at home with foreign policy. He could profitably take a leaf from Mr Abe's playbook, especially on matters that are key to South-east Asia. Mr Abe led on trade, championing the successor to the Trans-Pacific Partnership after the US withdrawal in 2017. He also deepened Japan's strategic links with Asean, looping it into the Indo-Pacific policy authored by Washington. Japan outspends China in regional infrastructure investments. And after the pandemic broke, Japan nudged its companies to shift from China to South-east Asia to diversify their supply chains.

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