 Ichida speaks on JCP issues of concern in extraordinary Diet session Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on October 4 said that the JCP in the coming Diet session will focus on the bribery scandal as well as on pressing issues concerning people's livelihood and peace. The extraordinary Diet session will be convened on October 12. Concerning the money scandal involving Liberal Democratic Party politicians and the influential Japan Dentist Association's political action group, Ichida emphasized the need to thoroughly unravel the facts and to take steps to prevent similar scandals from taking place again. "The JCP will press the government to ban political donations from corporations and other organizations in order to eradicate political corruption." Referring to the adversely revised pension law and the move to increase the consumption tax rate, Ichida said that the JCP will call for the law, which was railroaded through the last Diet session in an outrageous manner, not to come into effect and will offer alternative reform in the real sense of the term. Pointing out that the justification for the Iraq War collapsed and many countries decided to withdraw their troops from Iraq, Ichida said, "We will reveal that the Japanese government's support for the Iraq War has run counter to the world trend and common sense." He criticized Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro for seeking to relocate a part of the U.S. military bases in Okinawa to Japan's mainland, saying, "It only helps strengthen the functions of the U.S. bases." The JCP will do its utmost in Diet deliberations to block a constitutional revision that the two major parties are now aiming for, said Ichida. (end) |