Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, whose failed bid to buy disputed islands ignited a crisis with China, said he was resigning to form a party with the apparent aim of becoming a "third force" in an upcoming general election. Analysts said Ishihara's island gambit had already made major political forces harden their positions on China. "If you look in terms of what he wanted to accomplish…he succeeded immensely. He provoked a dispute and shifted discourse to the right," said Jeffrey Kingston of Temple University, Japan Campus.