TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio will replace Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi on consideration of his health conditions in the upcoming Cabinet and party leadership reshuffle on Wednesday, the Yomiuri daily reported on Saturday.

Kishida moved the reshuffle, originally slated for early September, after a key memorial service for former premier Shinzo Abe who was fatally shot last month, earlier to solidify the leadership in the wake of a domestic COVID-19 resurgence and the intensifying Taiwan situation, the newspaper said.

The reshuffle would come after Kishida’s conservative coalition government increased its majority in the upper house of parliament in a July election held two days after Abe’s death.

Kishi, 63, a younger brother of the deceased Abe, has been serving as defence minister since September 2020.

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno in the Cabinet, as well as ruling Liberal Democratic Party Vice President Taro Aso and Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi will likely be retained at their positions, Yomiuri also reported.

Reuters