Abe's vision for Asia should carry on: Kurt Campbell

U.S. Indo-Pacific coordinator remembers former Japan PM as 'policy entrepreneur'

White House Indo-Pacific co-ordinator Kurt Campbell said former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be remembered as "among the most consequential leaders of contemporary Asia." © AP

RYO NAKAMURA, Nikkei staff writer

July 10, 2022 01:16 JST

WASHINGTON -- Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be looked back on as one of the most significant leaders in modern Asia, said Kurt Campbell, the Indo-Pacific coordinator for the White House National Security Council.

Abe, Japan's longest-serving postwar prime minister, was shot and killed on Friday while campaigning for his party. While Abe resigned in 2020 because of ill health, he remained a power broker within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and an influential force in policymaking.