(Text by Guoyanghao of Observer Network)
According to a report on the NHK website on October 26, former Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo passed away on October 22 at the age of 90.
In December last year, Fukuda Yasuhiro gave an interview.
Fukuda Yasuhiro was born in Tokyo, Japan in July 1936. His father, Fukuda Yasuhiro, served as the Japanese Prime Minister from 1976 to 1978. Both the father and son are known as "old friends of the Chinese people."
In 1959, he graduated from Waseda University and then entered the oil industry. In 1976, he resigned to enter politics and served as his father’s chief of staff. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1990, and from 2000 to 2004, he served as the Chief Cabinet Secretary in the cabinets of Yasuo Masaoka and Junichiro Koizumi.
In September 2007, Fukuda Yasuo succeeded Akio Abe as the 91st Prime Minister of Japan, becoming the first father-son duo to serve as Prime Minister in Japanese constitutional history. During his tenure, he paid attention to Asian diplomacy and worked hard to improve relations between China and Japan. In May 2008, both China and Japan issued a joint statement confirming their commitment to promoting strategic mutual benefits relations between the two countries. In September of the same year, Fukuda Yasuo resigned from his position as Prime Minister and announced his retirement from politics in 2012.
After leaving politics in 2012, Fukuda Yasuhiro remained active in Sino-Japanese civil diplomacy. He served as the President of the Boao Forum for Asia from 2010 to 2018, using his network to promote exchanges between the two countries.
In 2014, when Sino-Japanese relations hit a low point, Fukuda Yasuhiro secretly visited China, playing a behind-the-scenes role in facilitating a meeting between Abe Shinzō and his counterpart in November of that year.
In June 2018, he made a special trip to Nanjing to visit the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. He presented flower baskets to the victims and inscribed the name "Peace in East Asia". Subsequently, he led the establishment of an Asian community cultural exchange institution, continued to promote cultural exchanges between China and Japan, and served as the president of the International Confucius Association. During his visit to Japan in March 2025, Wang Yi met with Fukuda Yasuo and praised him for his long-term efforts in promoting friendship between China and Japan.
