Japan’s new prime minister could try to shake up the country’s military pact with the US

• Shigeru Ishiba is set to be appointed Japan’s prime minister on Tuesday.
• On Friday, he narrowly won the presidency of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
• Ishiba has previously suggested that Japan’s military pact with the US should be overhauled.

Shigeru Ishiba, a former defense and agriculture minister, is set to become Japan’s next prime minister.

The 67-year-old narrowly won the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Friday. He will be elected prime minister by the LDP-controlled parliament on Tuesday.

“Trusting in the people and speaking the truth with courage and sincerity, I will do my utmost to make this nation of Japan a safe and secure country where everyone can once again live with a smile,” Ishiba said after the results were announced.

Ishiba is a self-professed lone wolf who claims to read three books per day, per Reuters. This was his fifth try at getting the top job.

His leadership is likely to transform Japan’s military alliance with the US, as well as have wider implications for the region’s security.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Ishiba wants to transform what he believes to be an unbalanced military alliance with Washington.

The publication noted that Japan hosts around 55,000 US troops on its territory and bears the majority of the operating costs of these bases.

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Japan has the highest number of permanently stationed US service members in the world.

Ishiba has previously called for turning US bases in Japan into joint US-Japanese operations. He also wants some Japanese soldiers to be permanently based in the US, per the AP.

Ishiba is a vocal defender of Taiwan’s democracy and called for an Asian version of NATO earlier this month, a suggestion the US shot down.

Speaking to lawmakers before the runoff, he pledged to put the party’s “hearts into protecting Japan, local areas, rules, and the people of Japan,” per The Guardian.

Some of the biggest military threats he will have to contend with include China’s increasing assertiveness as well as China’s and North Korea’s missile tests.

On Wednesday, his predecessor reportedly ordered a destroyer to cross the Taiwan Strait as a countermeasure to China.

That same day, China carried out its first known test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the Pacific Ocean in more than four decades.

However, Japan’s military is beset by recruiting challenges and is experiencing manpower shortages. Japan has also struggled to ramp up its domestic weapons production, with public opinion favoring the country’s pacifist tradition.

The US ambassador to Japan posted on X that he was looking forward to strengthening the US-Japan alliance.

The yen rose more than 1% against the dollar after the results were announced. According to Reuters, the markets had been expecting the victory of hardline nationalist Sanae Takaichi.