How to Honor the Legacy of Shinzo Abe

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a press conference at the prime minister's official residence on April 1, 2019, in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)

After the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Hudson Institute’s Japan Chair H.R. McMaster urges readers in the Los Angeles Times to honor Abe’s legacy. They can do so by continuing Abe’s vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific and by building on his agenda of peace through strength, expanded international cooperation, a strong US-Japan alliance, and restored confidence in democracy and free markets.

The Legacy of Japan’s Shinzo Abe

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears on a giant television screen during a press conference announcing his resignation on August 28, 2020, in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, will be remembered as a consummate diplomat and a statesman of vision who contributed to international stability and security and strengthened the US-Japan alliance, wrote James Przystup in The National Interest in 2020 when Abe resigned from office.

What the Loss of Shinzo Abe Means for the World

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe inspects an honor guard ahead of a Self Defense Forces (SDF) senior officers' meeting at the Ministry of Defense on September 17, 2019, in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)

The assassination of Shinzo Abe stunned the island nation of Japan and political leaders around the world. His absence will leave a hole in Japanese politics, but his legacy as a bold reformer won’t be forgotten, says Riley Walters in The Hill. Read more about how Abe’s foreign policy efforts and defense reforms laid a foundation that Japan can build upon.

Shinzo Abe, Grand Strategist

Japan's Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks at a news conference on May 25, 2020, in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon - Pool/Getty Images)

Shinzo Abe was Japan’s most profound strategic thinker, a thinker on par with Winston Churchill and Otto von Bismarck, writes Arthur Herman in National Review. From promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific to reforming Japan's defense budget, Abe will be dearly missed as a friend to Hudson Institute and as a visionary thinker whose impact on international order cannot be measured.

Statement on the Assassination of Prime Minister Abe

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivers remarks at the inauguration of Hudson Institute headquarters on March 30, 2016. Also pictured is Distinguished Fellow Ken Weinstein, former president and CEO. (Photo credit: James O'Gara)

Read Hudson Institute President and CEO John Walters' official statement released in the wake of the news of Abe's assassination: “Abe-san was a transformative leader of Japan and, for nearly two decades, a close friend of Hudson Institute.”

BEFORE YOU GO...

Watch Rebeccah Heinrichs on Fox News and Fox Business discussing Abe’s legacy of “peace through strength” and how his leadership strengthened not only Japan but also the US-Japan alliance.