Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed today (8th) in Nara, Japan, while delivering a street speech for Sunday's (10th) Senate election.
Yuan Michang, an international relations scholar in Hong Kong, pointed out that the incident took place at the scene of a street speech. Similar activities are quite common in Japanese elections. They are usually held intensively for days, and it is estimated that the security is relatively relaxed.
He went on to point out that after the war, Japan has experienced the baptism of peace in the era of peace, and there have been very few assassinations of political dignitaries.
Shinzo Abe has little interaction with Hong Kong, but after the turmoil over the amendments broke out in 2019, Abe made many voices, including calling for restraint on both sides of the conflict, and once told Premier Li Keqiang that he hoped China would solve the problem through peaceful dialogue.
After leaving office, he visited the Yasukuni Shrine many times, and publicly expressed his great concern about the current situation in Hong Kong, believing that what happened in Hong Kong cannot happen in Taiwan.
Abe, who paid his first visit to the prime minister in 2006, changed his predecessor's tradition of visiting the United States as his first stop after taking office. He chose to visit China and apologized many times for the crimes of the Japanese during World War II. However, he took a pro-Taiwan stand and actively promoted the development of relations with Taiwan after leaving office.
Former Chief Executive Carrie Lam visited Japan in early 2019 to attend activities to promote the Greater Bay Area, and was received by Abe as Prime Minister.
When the turmoil over the amendments broke out in 2019, it was reported that at the end of June of that year, Abe told President Xi Jinping in person that Hong Kong's prosperity under the "one country, two systems" principle was crucial to openness and freedom.
Later, he mentioned Hong Kong to Premier Li Keqiang on international occasions, and hoped that China would resolve the protests that lasted for many months in a peaceful way through dialogue.
By June 2020, Beijing plans to pass the "Hong Kong National Security Law", and the G7, including Japan, issued a joint statement with the EU urging Beijing to suspend the legislation, arguing that it will weaken Hong Kong's autonomy and worry that it will seriously damage "one country, two systems". This practice is inconsistent with the Basic Law and China's international commitments in the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which emphasizes that the Declaration is registered with the United Nations and has legal effect.
On the eve of the statement, Abe expressed his hope that Japan would lead the drafting of the statement and said the Japanese government would promote policies to attract more financial professionals from Hong Kong to Tokyo.
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