JCP sends message to Vietnamese Communist Party 9th Congress

The Japanese Communist Party sent a message to the 9th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam which opened in Hanoi on April 19. The message was read to the Congress by JCP Vice Chair Ueda Koichiro who attended the congress with many international guests. The message reads as follows:

The Japanese Communist Party Central Committee brings its warm greetings of solidarity to the delegates attending the Communist Party of Vietnam 9th Congress meeting at the beginning of the new century, and to all CPV members.

The 20th century saw the great cause of world peace, national self-determination, democracy, and socialism make historic progress in spite of many upheavals and twists and turns. Colonial rule by big powers has been removed by national liberation movements, and monarchical government regimes have been replaced by democratic republican government systems in which the people are sovereign.

The national liberation which the Vietnamese people achieved after a long, undaunted, and heroic struggle against French and Japanese colonial rule, and against U.S. aggression, is one of the most exemplary events since the end of World War II.

Experiencing major disasters during two world wars, the world has achieved remarkable progress. Under the United Nations Charter which bans the use or threat to use force, efforts have been made throughout the world to establish a new international peace order and remarkable progress. Progress has also been made in establishing democracy and basic human rights. The task is for us to make the new century an era in which the historical main current toward democracy will be even greater.

Friends,
We are also confronted by adverse currents. The United States by asserting its hegemony is blatantly challenging the very foundation of the postwar peace order based on the principles of peaceful settlement of international disputes, respect for national sovereignty, and non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries.

The U.S., which proclaims to be the leader of NATO and the Japan-U.S. military alliance, together with its allies, has repeatedly infringed on the United Nations Charter that provides that the use of force is only allowed when authorized by the U.N. or in self-defense, through its arbitrary military intervention against Yugoslavia, Iraq, and other countries, unilaterally declaring that it has the right to use force. As part of this, the Japanese government is seeking to use the new Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation to strengthen and expand the Japan-U.S. military alliance and establish a new setup for joint military intervention in Asia by Japan's Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. Forces.

To confront these adverse currents, the task now is to make even more powerful the current toward peace and social progress in East Asia. The current is represented by the efforts initiated by the efforts led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in which Vietnam is now a member, and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) toward a non-aligned, nuclear-weapon free region and peaceful settlement of regional disputes, and by the successful North-South Korean summit and subsequent developments on the Korean Peninsula.

Friends,
Japan is a highly developed capitalist country but bound by the military alliance with the United States, its status has been one of "protectorate" of the U.S.

Japan's economy is in such a crisis that it could threaten the world economy. Its yearly fiscal deficit is 1.3 times its gross domestic product (GDP). The finance minister has admitted that the nation is at the brink of bankruptcy. The fiscal failure has been caused by an upside-down government expenditure. In Japan, about 50 trillion yen from the local and central governments combined is used annually for major public works projects that only benefit major corporation, while only 20 trillion yen is used for social welfare. This way of expenditure is unparalleled in Western capitalist countries.

The prolonged serious economic recession has been caused mainly by a major decline in personal consumption, which accounts for 60 percent of Japan's gross domestic product (GDP). The people are increasingly concerned about their livelihoods due to tax increases, the adverse revision of the pension systems, cuts in social services, and worker dismissals and wage cuts by large corporations in the name of corporate restructuring. Japan's politics, serving the interests of "capitalism without rules," has held down worker's wages far lower and imposed longer working hours than in major Western countries; it has added to the inequality between major companies and subcontractor small- and medium-sized enterprises; and it has failed to take adequate environmental protection measures. Such a lawless way of government has undermined the people's livelihood and is destroying even the foundations of the Japanese economy.

The JCP is calling for common efforts and making proposals to democratically overcome the economic crisis by cutting the consumption tax rate (to 3 percent) and supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises. The JCP package of proposals has been embraced by a wide-range of the people, including many business people. Taking into account the present stage of development of Japanese society, we are working for the abrogation of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and for the creation of a new Japan in which democracy prevails in all fields within the framework of capitalism.

However, we don't believe that capitalism is an everlasting system. Its contradictions and limits have become apparent worldwide with unemployment increasing, the gap between the rich and the poor widening, starvation and poverty getting increasing, the North-South problem sharpening, environmental destruction, and financial speculations getting more out of hand. Evidently, all these phenomena stem from the system of capitalism based on exploitation for profits. The JCP basic position is one of making serious efforts for reforms urgently needed and at the same time to struggle with a broad perspective for Japan and the rest of the world to proceed into socialist society.

Friends,
The Vietnamese people won victory in the many years of anti-U.S. national salvation struggle led by the CPV, and then they have made efforts to reconstruct the economy in defiance of many difficulties. They set their course on "doimoi" policy, and have carried it into practice for 15 years, overcoming major turbulence in the international situation. The achievements are evidence that your policy has meshed well with the reality of Vietnam.

The "doimoi" policy which combines the market economy with the planned economy and seeks socialism through a multi-sector economy is a pioneer course in history. We wish the CPV and the Vietnamese people, who have won their painful struggle, success also in this challenging task of treading the path which no one has ever trodden to its end.

Recalling the historic significance of the Vietnamese people's anti-U.S. national salvation struggle, the JCP sincerely hopes that the close solidarity which was established at the time will continue and develop.

We expect that the 9th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam will be a great success. (end)