Shinzō Abe summit. October 2018 saw Abe making a landmark trip to China. Despite the Abe administration efforts to promote "multilateralism" on the global scale, Abe conceeded in his China visit the benefits of strong foundations on the bi-lateral level, pledging to see bilateral relations into further "dimensions". China`s enthusiasm with the visit of Japan`s Prime Minister showed reciprocity, with China announcing it`s invitation to Japan to participate in the maritime Belt and Road (丝绸之路经济带和21世纪海上丝绸之路) initiative. On 20 September 2018, Abe was re-elected as leader of the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The victory puts him on track to become Japan’s longest-serving
Shinzō Abe Communist and Social Democratic parties walked out of the vote in protest at what they said was the government's move to force the bills through without sufficient debate and ignore "responsible opposition parties". Abe countered by arguing that the bills had been debated for "as many as 113 hours" before the vote. While common practice in many other parliamentary democracies, a government using its majority to "railroad" controversial bills though the Diet in the face of political and public opposition is a subject of criticism in Japan. As a result of these moves, Abe faced a public backlash, and opinion