Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has picked a woman as foreign minister, and appointed as defence minister a politician who has worked to build ties with Taiwan, Wednesday’s new Cabinet line-up showed. The choices spotlight a face of Japan with greater gender equality and a stronger approach to defence that Mr Kishida seeks to project as he battles sagging ratings before his term as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is set to end in 2024. Ms Yoko Kamikawa, a former justice minister who oversaw the execution of key members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult responsible for the deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, becomes foreign minister. Top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno added that the role of defence minister goes to Mr Minoru Kihara, a pro-Taiwan politician who has visited the island in the past, and belongs to a Japan-Taiwan inter-parliamentary group. Mr Kihara is a former vice-minister of defence.

Source: Daily Sun September 13, 2023 20:14 UTC