TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s governing party on Saturday elected former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, a hard-line ultra-conservative and China hawk, as its new leader, making her likely to become the country’s first female prime minister.

In a country that ranks poorly internationally for gender equality, the 64-year-old Takaichi makes history as the first female leader of Japan’s long-governing conservative Liberal Democratic Party. Takaichi is one of the most conservative members of the male-dominated party.

An admirer of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Takaichi is a protege of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ultra-conservative vision and a regular at the Yasukuni Shrine, seen as a symbol of Japan’s wartime militarism, which could complicate Tokyo’s re

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