Trump pays 'highest respect' to resigning Japanese Prime Minister Abe
Trump and Abe
US President Donald Trump on Friday paid his "highest respect" to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and voiced concern over his "great friend" resigning for health reasons.
"I want to pay my highest respect to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a very great friend of mine," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned from a campaign rally in New Hampshire.
"We've had a great relationship and I just feel very badly about it, because it must be very severe for him to leave."
Trumpsaid Abe loved his country very much, adding that he planned to call the Japanese leader. World leaders from all across the globe bid adieu to Abe, wished him luck for his future and health and congratulated him for his wonderful term.
Ending weeks of speculation, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on Friday that he is stepping down for health reasons a second time.
Shinzo Abe had earlier made two trips to the hospital amid speculation over his health.
“I cannot be prime minister if I cannot make the best decisions for the people. I have decided to step down from my post,” Abe, 65, told a news conference.
Also see:Possible successors stack up as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigns
Abe has battled the disease ulcerative colitis for years and two recent hospital visits within a week had fanned questions on whether he could stay in the job until the end of his term as ruling party leader, and hence, premier, in September 2021.
Shinzo Abe's resignation announcement has now triggered an election in his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to replace him as its president, followed by a vote in parliament to elect a new prime minister.
With Abe’s conservative LDP and Komeito holding a strong majority in the more powerful Lower House, whoever becomes the next LDP president will almost certainly become prime minister.