Albanese along with former prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull,John Howard and Tony Abbott will land in a febrile atmosphere in the Japanese capital where Abe’s $18 million state funeral has drawn growing condemnation from the Japanese public over its costs and the former prime minister’s links to a controversial cult.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signs a condolence book for former prime minister Shinzo Abe at Japan’s embassy in Canberra in July.AAP
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that he would no longer be attending the service due to Hurricane Fiona hitting parts of eastern Canada. Former US president Barack Obama pulled out last week. Albanese,along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will be among the highest profile attendees of the event.
Albanese said Japan was an important partner for Australia as geopolitical tensions rise across Asia and the Pacific.
“Shinzo Abe was really important in setting up the Quad,which is Australia,the US,India and Japan,and the cooperation agreements which are there,” he said on Monday before flying out for Tokyo. “And it’s a good sign of respect that you have three former prime ministers and the current guy,me,all heading up there this morning.”
Albanese is expected to discuss the Quad and deepening relations between Australia,Japan and the United States with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US Vice President Kamala Harris in Tokyo as the war in Ukraine and China’s threats to Taiwan dominate the international agenda.
The Japanese government will allow Taiwan’s representatives to pay respect to Abe on Tuesday,a move that could further inflame tensions with China. Abe had close ties with Taiwan and advocated for the US to make explicit that it would defend the democratic island if it was attacked by Beijing.
The Japanese government expects 4300 people to attend the ceremony in Tokyo at the Nippon Budokan,but is tightly controlling security around the perimeter after it was criticised for the lax protection around Abe at the time of his assassination in July.
The airspace around Tokyo will be restricted and 2500 extra police deployed as protesters march near the Budokan in central Tokyo.
Abe’s links with the Unification Church have come under intense scrutiny since he was assassinated in July. The assassin,Tetsuya Yamagami,targeted Abe after the former prime minister made a video speech to the church. Yamagami claims the church had forced his mother to donate more than $1 million and left his family in poverty. Abe’s party,the Liberal Democratic Party,which has governed Japan for most of the past century has since revealed more than 179 politicians have a connection with the church,which provides them with a steady stream of volunteers and voters.
Anthony Albanese and former PMs will fly to Japan for Shinzo Abe state funeral.
Kishida has said the party will sever its connection with the church but his political approval ratings have been pummeled in the wake of the assassination,reaching as low as 29 per cent. Abe was seen as Japan’s foremost statesman abroad but he has left behind a divisive legacy at home. The protests outside the funeral are expected to focus on the Japanese government’s links to the Unification Church,nationalism and Abe’s long held plans to change Japan’s pacifist post-World War II constitution.
“Abe’s death has unveiled that Japanese politics has suffered a tremendously terrible cancer,” Japanese political commentator Akihiro Otani told Kyodo News.
“We should seriously review what Abe and his government did for the Japanese public.”
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