Thủ tướng bình dân

-----

Yoshihide Suga charted an unlikely course to the cusp of Japan’s premiership.

While most leading Japanese lawmakers come from elite political families (gia tộc chính trị tinh hoa), Mr. Suga is the son of a strawberry (dâu tây) farmer (nông dân) and a schoolteacher (cô giáo) from the country’s rural north (nông thôn miền bắc). He is known more for expressionless (không biểu cảm) recitations (nhắc lại, thông báo) of government policy (chính sách của chính phủ) than flashes (lóe sáng, vụt sáng) of charisma (sức hấp dẫn/thu hút của chính khách). And at 71, he’s even older than Shinzo Abe, who suddenly announced in late August that he was resigning as prime minister because of ill health.

Yet on Monday, Mr. Suga, the longtime chief cabinet secretary (chánh văn phòng nội các) to Mr. Abe, was overwhelmingly elected as leader of the conservative (khuynh hướng bảo thủ) Liberal Democratic Party during a conclave at a luxury Tokyo hotel. The party has governed Japan for all but four years since World War II and controls Parliament, virtually assuring that Mr. Suga will be elected prime minister during a special session this week.

He will have to hit the ground running.

Mr. Suga will take office in the middle of a pandemic (đại dịch) that has devastated (tàn phá) Japan’s economy, effectively erasing (xóa bỏ, xóa sạch) years of growth (nhiều năm tăng trưởng) under Mr. Abe. Japan also is facing deepening pressure from China and North Korea. And it is losing a prime minister who built his foreign policy legacy partly on successful management of President Trump, the mercurial (hay thay đổi, không kiên định, đồng bóng) leader of Japan’s most important strategic ally (đồng minh chiến lược quan trọng nhất).

...Etsushi Tanifuji, a political science professor (giáo sư khoa học chính trị) at Waseda University, said that Suga does not have a grand vision (tầm nhìn lớn/vĩ đại) for Japan and is more of a problem-solver (giải quyết vấn đề), which worked for him as chief Cabinet secretary but could be problematic as prime minister.

"Some leaders have an ideology and they act with that as their guiding light. Suga is not that kind of politician."

Bài trước: Chạy bộ không còn buồn