In a runoff between Kono Taro and Fumio to lead Japan's main ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Fumio was declared the winner and is assured to become Prime Minister next week.
Two women are in contention to become prime minister for the first time in Japan's history -- a potential turning point for a country that ranks below Saudi Arabia in terms of female political representation, points out Rajaram Panda.
Kishida Fumio, who served as Japan's foreign minister from 2012 to 2017, visited India multiple times in that role and interacted with Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi both in New Delhi and in Tokyo, and with Dr Manmohan Singh, when the then prime minister, visited Japan in 2013.
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The demand for a probe comes amid reports that Pyongyang had clandestinely received nuclear enrichment technology from Pakistan when A Q Khan was at the helm of Islamabad's nuclear programme.
'If the Olympics were to spread infection, then what are the Olympics for?'
During her week-long stay, Swaraj, leading a high-powered Indian delegation, is expected to hold about 20 bilateral and trilateral meetings with leaders attending the session.
'There shall be no change in India-Japan ties,' predicts Rajaram Panda.
'While economic ties are making incremental progress, it is in the security and strategic domains that the India-Japan synergy is more compelling,' says Dr Rajaram Panda.
The two Koreas agreed during rare talks on Wednesday to form a combined women's ice hockey team to take part in next month's Winter Olympics in the South.
The EU too urged Pak to ensure "safe and secure conditions" for the polls.
The India-Japan 2+2 dialogue added strategic heft to the special relationship in the wake of growing Chinese assertiveness on regional affairs, points out Dr Rajaram Panda.
The US' strong assertion comes days after President Donald Trump pledged to answer further aggression from North Korea with "fire and fury".
The prime minister's meetings with Abe and Turnbull came a day after he held "very expansive" talks with US President Donald Trump on intensifying overall security and defence cooperation, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region where China is strengthening its military build up.
The PM will pay a two-day visit to Japan from October 28-29 to hold the annual India-Japan summit with Abe. The focus of the visit will be to further expand cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, carry out joint infrastructure projects in third countries and further boost ties key sectors like defence and trade.
'It is an unpleasant fact of history that stronger nations dominate the power play and the only way it can be mitigated is through recourse to diplomacy,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Is North Korea really dismantling its nuclear programme? Rajaram Panda explains the many challenges to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula.
The Korean summit, laden with symbolism in everything from the choice of location to the mango mousse for dessert, could just be the first round in a continuing dialogue, says Dr Rajaram Panda.
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