Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday reshuffled his cabinet and promoted two veteran lawmakers known to have friendly ties with China to top positions in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Experts see this move as an effort to warm ties that have cooled due to developments in the past months.

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Abe appointed Sadakazu Tanigaki as the new Secretary-General of Japan's ruling LDP, while Toshihiro Nikai as the Executive Council Chairman of the same party.

Tanigaki, 69, is Abe's predecessor as LDP leader who favors improving ties with China. He was also the proponent of a sales tax hike plan to curtail the country's public debt.

Nikai, 75, also has friendly ties with China. He was replaced by Tomomi Inada as the policy chief of LDP.

Political analyst Atsuo Ito believes that Abe is "sending a strong message to China that he wants to improve ties."

Recent developments such as lifting World War II restrictions in its military and boosting its alliance with the United States have angered China.

However, Japan has been consistent in expressing hopes to improve ties with its Asian neighbor and securing a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

If fact, this is not the first time the prime minister exhibited efforts to warm ties. In mid-August, Abe skipped a Yasukuni shrine visit as it might anger China as it did in his last visit.

Meanwhile, the cabinet reshuffle was aimed at refining Japan's stance in dealing with specific challenges, such as the revival of Japan's region.

Abe kept his core members and added more women in the party. He also enlisted the reform-minded Yasuhisa Shiozaki to head the ministry of labor, health, and welfare that manages Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF).

"We're only halfway through with reforms and we need to deal with new challenges. I reshuffled my cabinet so that we can tackle these challenges boldly and vigorously," Abe said.

TagsLiberal Democratic Party