JCP opposes FY2009 supplementary budget plan including aid to Afghan army

Japan Press Weekly

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

JCP opposes FY2009 supplementary budget plan including aid to Afghan army

The Japanese Communist Party opposes the FY2009 supplementary budget plan, JCP Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi announced on January 22.

The second supplementary budget plan as a whole does not go to the heart of the original budget compiled by the former government led by the Liberal Democratic Party and Komei Party.

The Hatoyama cabinet’s supplementary budget plan includes aid for the Afghan National Army and it betrays the Democratic Party of Japan’s election manifesto to eliminate the healthcare insurance system for the elderly aged 75 and over. This is why the JCP opposes the second supplementary budget plan, Ichida said.

He said, “Expenditures of assistance for Afghanistan include 1.2 billion yen to the Afghan National Army trust fund of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Although this donation is under the pretext of providing medical assistance, it is actually assistance for the Afghan National Army. It is unprecedented for Japan to give financial support to a specific country’s armed forces. The JCP cannot approve of it in light of Article 9 of Japan’s Constitution.”

The government postponed discontinuing the healthcare insurance system for the elderly aged 75 and over, which the DPJ had promised to do in the last general election campaign. The DPJ also promised to reduce elderly people’s burden of payment premiums in the insurance system that will increase by 14% on average from April. However, no concrete measure has been taken either in the draft supplementary budget for FY2009 or the FY2010 budget plan.

-Akahata, January 23, 2010