Japan is manifesting refreshing confidence drawing from its resolve to push the envelope of positive pacifism while determining the strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific.

With House of Representatives’ four-year term ending in October, and a general election lined up in Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party needs a leader who demonstrates statesmanship, political vision, boldness in imagining innovative policy responses, and who enjoys popular support.

The COVID-19 pandemic has situated the policy conversation on economic security at the centre stage of national security calculus not just in US and Europe but also in Japan. For Japan, it would entail attaining “strategic autonomy” in critical supply chains at the national level, and pursuing “strategic indispensability” at the global level.

Two key elections are approaching in Japan. As Prime Minister Suga seeks public mandate with just one year's report card amidst a pandemic, his political future is contingent on rapid inoculation and a successful Olympics.

Despite change in leadership in Japan, the new Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide looks set to continue the policies of his predecessor, Abe Shinzo. Both domestic and external factors may affect policies.

Abe Shinzo made his mark as an astute statesman in international politics with intellectual bandwidth and a global vision to conceptualise grand strategic constructs such as the Free and Open Indo-Pacific anchored on universal values.

Japan’s quest for pre-emptive strike capability indicates a major shift in its defence doctrine. It is only a matter of time before Japan takes up such an offensive defence doctrine carrying a high possibility of conflict initiation/escalation with it.