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

After last week’s assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Hudson Distinguished Fellow Kenneth R. Weinstein reflected on the leader’s achievements and their friendship, which started in 2003 when they first met in Tokyo. In the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, Weinstein compares Abe to Ronald Reagan because both men had a transformative strategic vision. While the Japanese leader had the “analytical and inquisitive mindset” for profound strategic thought, he had something more: “a gentle, sensitive soul.”

Read below for more on how Shinzo Abe benefited Japan and the United States.

Key Insights

1. Shinzo Abe Was Ronald Reagan’s Peer

For sheer force of transformative strategic vision, Ronald Reagan’s only peer in my lifetime was Shinzo Abe. As Reagan recognized that American decline in the 1970s was reversible and could fundamentally tilt the balance of geopolitics in favor of freedom, Abe understood that a Japan still living in the shadow of the Second World War would be unable to secure her freedom and prosperity against the rising power of a stubbornly autocratic China. In the case of both these great men, they brought to bear not just a vision but also political skill. Statesmanship of this order is rare, and as the reputation of Reagan among Americans grew after his death, so will Abe’s among Japanese.

2. Abe Recognized and Addressed the China Challenge before Others

By far, Abe’s most far-sighted strategic insight was his early awareness of the growing challenge of the rise of China. At the time, most American officials still hoped the People’s Republic of China would become a “responsible stakeholder” internationally. Abe’s view was far less benign and has been entirely vindicated. He saw that the best way to meet the China challenge was to redefine the field of competition. As prime minister in 2007, in a prescient speech before the Indian Parliament, he shifted from Japan’s traditional focus on the Pacific Ocean to a broader focus on the Indo-Pacific, where maritime democratic powers Japan and India could promote freedom and prosperity in partnership with a network including Australia and the US.

3. Abe's Vision of a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" Has Spread

As China sought greater influence through its coercive and confiscatory “One Belt, One Road” Initiative, Abe promoted freedom in the confluence of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In a historic speech in August 2016, he unveiled his vision of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.” Highlighting the “sea lanes” that connect Asia and Africa, Abe noted that “stability and prosperity” as well as “enormous liveliness” would arise “through the union of two free and open oceans and two continents.” “Japan,” in implicit contrast to China, could help make the Indo-Pacific “into a place that values freedom, the rule of law, and the market economy, free from force or coercion.” With this vision, Abe placed Japan at the center of geopolitics and at the center of efforts to promote freedom and international order. Few strategic concepts have garnered as much international support as rapidly.

Quotes may be edited for clarity and length. 

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