Shinzo Abe and Japan's Role in the World

How important was former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the modern identity of Japan? Nonresident Senior Fellow Cecile Shea discusses this and more with BBC World News.

"Even the folks who didn't vote for him are incredibly sad today, because as I say he was just a larger than life figure and a man of immense charisma," she says.

"The mere fact that he was able to stay in power for almost a decade was extraordinarily important for Japan. [...] The other world leaders felt comfortable with him, and that is what he brought to Japan's role in the world. Japan has always been a power, for the last 50 years the third largest economy in the world, the most advanced military in Japan, a world leader in official development assistance to the world's neediest countries.

"But what he brought was a continuity and a comfort level with Westerners, and an understanding of how to get to where he needed to be. We certainly saw that with President Trump. [...] He was willing to do whatever it took to get along with Donald Trump because his strategic vision included the importance and the centrality of the US-Japan alliance, and so he did whatever it took to maintain that alliance.

"And he was the most vocal of the world leaders of supporting Taiwan," Shea states.