Wire reporting: (Reuters, via SCMP), (AFP, via Japan Today)

Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who served from 2007 to 2008 and sought closer ties with China, has died at 90, according to his family, a ruling-party official and Japanese media^2,3,4.

The Japan Times, in a staff report, said his son announced the death on Monday and that Fukuda died on Thursday; it did not give a cause³. An official of the Liberal Democratic Party told AFP, as carried by Japan Today, that Fukuda died on October 22². Reuters, citing the Nikkei business daily, reported that he died Thursday of heart failure⁴. SCMP carried the same Reuters account¹.

Fukuda became Japan's first second-generation prime minister in September 2007 after Shinzo Abe resigned, succeeding him for less than a year^1,3. He had been first elected to the lower house in 1990 from Gunma Prefecture and served as chief cabinet secretary under Yoshiro Mori and Junichiro Koizumi³.

On diplomacy, he hosted then-Chinese President Hu Jintao on a state visit in May 2008, the first such trip by a Chinese head of state in a decade, and the two issued a joint statement on a mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests^2,3. Japan Today, carrying AFP, said he later visited China in 2014 to meet President Xi Jinping as territorial and historical disputes worsened².

The Japan Times said he chaired the Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido in July 2008, where leaders adopted a goal of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050³. At home, it said his government helped pass compensation for people infected with hepatitis C through contaminated blood products, and that he apologized to victims twice³. It also said he laid groundwork for the Consumer Affairs Agency, which was formed in 2009 after he left office³.

He resigned in September 2008 as approval ratings fell, then left politics in 2012^2,3. Further details of the death were not immediately available from The Japan Times³.

Sources

1. (Reuters, via SCMP)Former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda, known for seeking China ties, dies at 902:37 AM
2. (AFP, via Japan Today)Former PM Yasuo Fukuda dies at 903:33 AM
3. The Japan TimesFormer Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda dies at 901:42 AM
4. ReutersYasuo Fukuda, Japan's first second-generation prime minister, dies at 90, Nikkei reports1:30 AM

Read the original at SCMP ↗