Ichida says DPJ is competing with LDP for wrecking Constitution

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Ichida says DPJ is competing with LDP for wrecking Constitution

Asked by reporters to comment on the passage through a House of Representatives special committee of the bill to extend the Maritime Self-Defense Force deployment to the Indian Ocean on October 20, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi made the following points:

This is an important question that has a bearing on constitutional principles. However, the committee put the bill to a vote after closing the discussion after just two days for the sake of party politics and motivated by a deal by some parties with a snap election in mind.

In an extraordinary move, the Liberal Democratic Party welcomed the Democratic Party proposal for the earliest possible vote on the bill.

When JCP Akamine Seiken pointed out that war cannot do away with terrorism, Prime Minister Aso admitted that the situation in Afghanistan is worsening.

The committee debate revealed that the government’s assertion that Japan’s assistance in the U.S. war against terrorism is necessary lacked credibility.

The JCP basically welcomes the recent moves in Afghanistan towards settling the conflict by political means. It is dangerous for the Japanese government to keep supporting the war militarily.

During the deliberations, the LDP and the DPJ revealed that they were in agreement to establish a permanent law to enable Japan to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces abroad without Diet approval. Thus, it has become clearer that the ruling LDP and the opposition DPJ are competing against each other to send the SDF abroad in violation of the Constitution.

The DPJ, acting only in its own interests, share the basic stance with the LDP in clinging to the Japan-U.S. military alliance.

The JCP will do all it can to scrap the bill through thorough discussions.

- Akahata, October 21, 2008