Tokyo, Jan 14,2022: Former Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu passed away this month, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported Friday.
He was 91 years old.
During Kaifu’s term of office, after the Gulf War, the Japanese Self-Defense Force were deployed to the Gulf region to conduct minesweeping operations.
He made the key decision to send the SDF to the Persian Gulf following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait after Japan was criticized for not making any contribution toward resolving the 1990 Gulf crisis, other than the $13 billion it gave to coalition forces led by the United States.
In August 1991, Kaifu was the first leader of a major democratic country visit Beijing since the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy students protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 sparked worldwide rebuke and the imposition of diplomatic, economic and military sanctions against China.
Kaifu was forced to step down as premier in November 1991 after he vowed to reform the country’s political system only to see a key bill fail to pass through parliament. The legislation called for the introduction of single-seat constituencies in elections.
