Shinzo Abe
Out of office (2007–2012)

Abe remained in the National Diet following his resignation as prime minister. He was re-elected to his Yamaguchi 4th district seat in the 2009 election, when the Liberal Democratic Party lost power to the DPJ. On 15 October 2010, Abe delivered a speech in Washington DC to the Hudson Institute on US-Japan relations. Japan had recently been surpassed by China as the number two economy in the world, a position that it had held for the previous 40 years. Abe said: "It appears that China hopes to gain control not only over Taiwan, but also over the South China Sea, the East China Sea and, indeed, the entire Western Pacific... China's military strategy has rested on the concept of a 'strategic frontier'. In a nutshell, this very dangerous idea posits that borders and exclusive economic zones are determined by national power, and that as long as China's economy continues to grow, its sphere of influence will continue to expand. Some might associate this with the German concept of ' lebensraum '." Abe saw in the ASEAN countries a counterbalance to Chinese expansionism. Abe feared the Finlandization of Japan with respect to China, and saw the reaction of the Kan Cabinet to the September 2010 Senkaku boat collision incident as "a very foolish move" and "frighteningly naive". He stated the "imperative that Japan conduct a review of its Three Principles on Arms Exports."

While serving as a member of the Japanese Diet, Abe visited Taiwan in 2010 and 2011. There he met with president Ma Ying-jeou, former president Lee Teng-hui and future president Tsai Ing-wen, who was then the leader of the Democratic Progressive Party. Ma described Abe as "the ROC's best friend" and said Abe was the third generation of his family to have close ties with the Republic of China. Abe also visited the National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine, a shrine dedicated to the war dead of the Republic of China, including those who died in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Abe later revealed that the illness that contributed to ending his first term as prime minister was ulcerative colitis, but that he recovered due to access to a drug, Asacol, that was previously unavailable in Japan.
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