「最も影響力あった首相」　米メディアも相次ぎ速報―中曽根元首相死去

　【ワシントン時事】中曽根康弘元首相が死去したことについて、ウォール・ストリート・ジャーナル紙が「最も影響力のあった首相の一人」と報じるなど、米メディアも相次いで速報した。
　ウォール紙は、日本列島を米国の「不沈空母」にたとえた発言や、ロナルド・レーガン大統領（当時）と築いた「ロン・ヤス」関係を紹介。現在の安倍晋三首相とトランプ大統領につながる緊密な日米首脳関係の「先例をつくった」と指摘した。
　中曽根氏が首相を務めた１９８０年代は、日本が経済大国として米国の地位を脅かした時代と重なる。ニューヨーク・タイムズ紙は、中曽根氏が８３年に米バージニア州ウィリアムズバーグで開かれた先進国首脳会議（サミット）の写真撮影で、レーガン氏とサッチャー英首相（当時）の間に強引に割って入ったエピソードを紹介。「それまでの特徴の少ないリーダーと異なり、世界で認識された数少ない首相だった」と評した。（2019/11/29-16:06）

U.S. media lauded the late former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, with The Wall Street Journal, in its article reporting on his death on Friday at the age of 101, calling him "one of its (Japan's) most influential prime ministers."
   With Nakasone serving as prime minister between November 1982 and November 1987, the business-focused daily noted his close bond with then U.S. President Ronald Reagan, dubbed the "Ron-Yasu" relationship, which it said was "a precedent for the close personal ties" enjoyed by current Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump.
   The paper also introduced a comment by Nakasone describing Japan as the United States' "unsinkable aircraft carrier." Under Nakasone's watch, "Japan became the world's largest creditor nation and was increasingly viewed as a rival to the U.S. for global economic supremacy," it said.
   The New York Times called Nakasone "one of the few Japanese prime ministers to win recognition on the world stage." In a photo taken at the May 1983 Group of Seven summit held in Williamsburg, Virginia, Nakasone, "unlike his fairly colorless predecessors, who invariably stood on the edge of group photos of world leaders," squeezed himself in between Reagan and then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, it said.
   Nakasone had largely been out of the spotlight in recent years, after Reagan died in 2004. On the occasion of his 100th birthday in May 2018, several media outlets reported on Nakasone's routine of checking the morning newspaper and reading books.