Abe likely to pick hawkish ally Tomomi Inada as defence minister: report

Tokyo

JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is likely to pick ruling party policy chief Tomomi Inada as defence minister in a new Cabinet, the Asahi newspaper said on Tuesday, which could upset China and South Korea given her conservative views on wartime history.

Mr Abe is set to reshuffle his Cabinet on Wednesday, retaining several ministers and picking a veteran lawmaker who favours big spending as ruling party number two.

Ms Inada, 57, is a close ally of Mr Abe and shares his goal of revising the post-war, pacifist constitution, seen b…