JCP Chair Shii speaks before 13,000 people in Osaka

A big speech assembly of the Japanese Communist Party was held at Osaka Castle Hall in Osaka City on February 16. About 13,000 people listened to JCP Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo unravel the present problems facing Japan and the world and discuss the JCP view on political change for the 21st century.

Referring to the exclusion of NGOs from an international conference on assistance for Afghanistan, and the ousting of the foreign minister, Shii said that many people are beginning to realize the true colors of the LDP government of Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro.

Shii said that the JCP's parliamentary activities are driving Koizumi into a corner through JCP Dietmembers' investigations into LDP Dietmember Suzuki Muneo's interference with Japan's foreign development assistance, and the JCP's anti-Koizumi street campaigns.

The JCP chair also emphasized the need for a powerful struggle to root out plutocracy and block Koizumi plans to force the people to pay more for medical treatment from April 2002. (end)