Xi and Abe Must Learn to Live Together

The Liberal Democratic Party -- and the broader voting public -- of Japan opted in a big way for Abe, viewed as a strong leader, as anxiety grew about China with the Senkaku/Diaoyu falling-out. And the ruling Chinese Communist Party has given Xi considerably enhanced power, as frustration had built under his predecessors, with a sense of drift over issues including economic reform and corruption. Both leaders have special new inter-agency committees answering to them personally on security and reform. Abe is politically secure until 2016, and Xi until 2022. While Xi's reform program has impressed -- although most implementation still awaits -- Abe's has disappointed to date. Kroeber describes it as "an incoherent jumble of initiatives reliant mainly on the standard technique of Japanese planners: identifying new sectors for massive investment".