TOKYO _ If Shinzo Abe resigns over health problems, the next Japanese prime minister might tweak policy on everything from China ties to monetary policy, without making drastic changes.
Since taking power in 2012, Abe has touted unprecedented monetary easing and a flexible fiscal policy to revive the economy _ a package dubbed "Abenomics." He has worked to build a personal bond with U.S. President Donald Trump, while at the same time seeking to smooth over ties with Japan's biggest trading partner, China.
One of the reasons Abe has endured to become Japan's longest-serving prime minister has been the lack of open dissent in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Some potential candidates may be holding fire while he's in office, but a large degree of continuity is likely in managing the world's third-largest economy.
"There is little choice but to continue with aggressive fiscal policy and monetary easing (given) the state of the economy, especially after the pandemic," said Hiroshi Miyazaki, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. "If a new leader wants to upend economic policies, that would cause yen gains and stock falls. No one wants that."
Abe hasn't said he'll step down, but a chronic ailment forced him to abandon an earlier stint as premier in 2007. Here are some of his most likely successors:
