Japanese Upper House Vote: What It Means for PM Ishiba and Trade Negotiations

CGTN Europe

Benoit Hardy-Chartrand, Faculty Lecturer at Temple University Japan, spoke to CGTN Europe, describing the election as a significant setback for Prime Minister Ishiba, marking his second major political loss in less than a year. He noted that the results reflect deep public dissatisfaction, driven by stagnant wages, rising inflation, and frustration over the government’s handling of trade negotiations with the United States. Hardy-Chartrand added that the outcome is likely to further weaken Ishiba’s position in upcoming talks with Washington, making the negotiation process considerably more difficult.

Transcript

00:00How much of a setback do you think this could be for the Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba?

00:06It's a major setback for Prime Minister Ishiba. Let's remember that he hasn't been in office for

00:12even a year yet, and he's already presided over two major losses for the ruling LDP.

00:19Last October, there were lower house elections, and his LDP also lost his majority then. So that's

00:25going to be a second election in a row where his party loses its majority, this time in the upper

00:32house. And it looks very bad for him, and there's going to be increasing pressure for him to resign,

00:40of course. But that is a sign of the rising dissatisfaction by the Japanese population

00:46over the way the country has been run for the last few years, and over generally the state of the

00:51economy and many other concerns that Japanese people have at the moment.

00:56And specifically on the economy, Benoit, there clearly has been a lot of concern over rising

01:00prices in Japan. Has that played a central role in this election?

01:05I would say this has been the major factor, the most important factor for Japanese people. Polls

01:12have shown that economic concerns has been top of mind for Japanese people. And for myself,

01:17I've been here for many, many years, I've never, I've never come across that level of complaint to

01:25anguish, general unease about the current state of the economy. For many Japanese people that there's

01:31there's a kind of sense of being fed up with the fact that the economy has been stagnating for many

01:36years, wages have not been increasing. And inflation has also been quite noticeable over the last few

01:43years, but especially in the last years. For all those reasons, indeed, the economy has really

01:49been the major factor, although there have been other factors at play as well.

01:55And of course, Japan is facing a tariff deadline with the United States. What could this election

02:00mean for the trade negotiations?

02:03Well, this is not going to be easy for Prime Minister Shiba, because as I mentioned a minute ago,

02:09the fact that he is going to come out of this election even more weakened, facing further

02:16pressure from his party to resign. From the perspective of the Americans and from Donald

02:21Trump, they're not looking at Japan right now and its leaders as being in a comfortable or strong

02:26position. So, so far, we have seen the Japanese holding a fairly hard line in the negotiations

02:32with the Americans. But I think it might be difficult for them to continue this current path

02:39that they're on, this current hard line of the negotiations. And as I said, most importantly,

02:43the United States and the President are not likely to see Prime Minister Shiba as just in a strong

02:50position, which is going to give them the upper hand in this negotiation, in these negotiations.

02:56Really appreciate your insights on this today. Benoit Hardy-Chartrand from Temple University.

03:01Thanks so much.

03:02And finally, Don Juan is one of opera's most famous characters. Now, a production by a Shanghai

03:09eco-company is performing in Spain, the birthplace of this epic story. And it comes with

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