Japanese Upper House Vote: What It Means for PM Ishiba and Trade Negotiations
How much of a setback do you think this could be for the prime minister Shigaru Ishiba? It’s a major setback for Prime Minister Ishiba. Let’s uh remember that he’s had he hasn’t been yet in office for even a year yet and he’s already presided over two major losses for the ruling LDP. Last October, there were lower lower house elections and his LDP also lost his majority then. So that’s going to be a second uh election in a row where his party loses uh its majority this time in the upper house. uh and it looks very bad for him and there’s going to be increasing uh pressure uh under for him to resign of course but that is uh a sign of the rising dissatisfaction uh by the Japanese population over the way the country has been being has been run for the last few years and over generally the state of the economy and many other concerns that Japanese people have at the moment and specifically on the economy banoir there clearly has been a lot of concern over rising prices in Japan has that played a central role in this election? I would say this has been the major factor, the most important factor uh for Japanese people. Polls have shown that economic concerns has been top of mind for Japanese people and for myself uh I’ve been here for many many years. I’ve never um I’ve never come across that level of complaint, anguish, uh general unease about the current state of the economy. uh for many Japanese people that there’s there’s a kind of sense of being fed up with the fact that the economy uh has been stagnating for many years. Wages have not been increasing and inflation has also um been quite noticeable over the last few years but especially in the last year. So for all those reasons indeed uh the economy has really uh been the major factor although there have been other factors at play as well. And of course, Japan is facing a tariff deadline with the United States. What could this election mean for the trade negotiations? Well, this is not going to be easy for Prime Minister Sheiba because as I as I mentioned uh a minute ago, the fact that uh he is going to come out of this election even more weakened, facing further pressure from his party to resign. uh from the perspective of the Americans and from Donald Trump, they’re not looking at Japan right now and its leaders as being in a comfortable or strong position. So, so far we have seen the Japanese holding a fairly hard line in the negotiations uh with the Americans, but I think it might be difficult for them to continue the this current uh path they’re on, this current hard line of the negotiations. And as I said, most importantly, um the United States and its it’s the president are not likely to see uh Prime Minister Ishiba as just in a strong position which is going to give them the upper hand in this negotiation in these negotiations. Really appreciate your insights on this today. Benoir Hardi Chartron from Temple University. Thanks so much. And finally, Don Juan is one of opera’s most famous characters now. A production by a Shanghai Eco Company is performing in Spain, the birthplace of this epic story. And it comes with
Benoit Hardy-Chartrand, Faculty Lecturer at Temple University Japan, spoke to CGTN Europe, describing the election as a significant setback for Prime Minister Ishiba, marking his second major political loss in less than a year.
He noted that the results reflect deep public dissatisfaction, driven by stagnant wages, rising inflation, and frustration over the government’s handling of trade negotiations with the United States.
Hardy-Chartrand added that the outcome is likely to further weaken Ishiba’s position in upcoming talks with Washington, making the negotiation process considerably more difficult.
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