In Memorium--Shinzo Abe

 

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It is with great sadness that one must today consider the enormity of the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The facts are still in development and its narrative is evolving. One hopes that those developments will bring some measure of closure or comfort to Japan and its friends worldwide. 

President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Prime Minister Narendra Modiissued the following statement:

Statement by President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi Mourning Former Prime Minister Abe

July 08, 2022 • Statements and Releases

We, the leaders of Australia, India, and the United States, are shocked at the tragic assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Prime Minister Abe was a transformative leader for Japan and for Japanese relations with each one of our countries. He also played a formative role in the founding of the Quad partnership, and worked tirelessly to advance a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific. Our hearts are with the people of Japan — and Prime Minister Kishida— in this moment of grief. We will honor Prime Minister Abe’s memory by redoubling our work towards a peaceful and prosperous region.

 

The assassination occurs at a tense moment in global history, one in which change, great change, is inevitable, but its direction still unpredictable.  Mr. Abe's murder takes place as Russia pursues a hot war for the territory of Ukraine.  Around this core, what is appearing  to be shaping into a new sort of functionally differentiated multi-generational war  involving global principal states and their dependencies  has been broadening and intensifying. In that context Mr. Abe symbolized both the intensification of Japanese defense capabilities, including the development of the Quad on the Asian front of the current conflict, and also a driving force in the preservation of the forward momentum and solidarity of liberal democratic states and the socio-economic orders they advanced (Building on the Failure of the Trans Pacific Partnership--The Abe Doctrine in the Era of the Periphery Leading the Center).