174th ordinary Diet session closes, JCP prepares for Upper House election

Japan Press Weekly

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174th ordinary Diet session closes, JCP prepares for Upper House election

The 174th ordinary session of the Diet closed on June 16. This makes the House of Councilors election to be officially announced on June 24 and to be held on July 11.

The Japanese Communist Dietmembers Group on the day held a meeting to ready themselves for the Upper House election, in which the JCP is to criticize the Kan Cabinet for its subordination to the United States and Japan's business circles in disregard of the public interest and people's livelihoods.

JCP Chair Shii Kazuo, the speaker in the meeting, reviewed the position of the Kan cabinet. He said that the cabinet's true colors of allegiance to U.S. requests on the Futenma base issue and its intention of maintaining the subservient course taken by past administrations is now ready apparent, even reneging on his former call for the withdrawal of the U.S. Marines from Okinawa.

Shii said that it has become clear that PM Kan Naoto has no intention to change the government policy from one of supporting large corporations. Pointing out that the prime minister announced in the Diet to get a plan formulated to reduce the corporate tax and increase the consumption tax rate, Shii said that the move to increase the consumption tax should be a major issue in the election. He said that the need is for the JCP to oppose any consumption tax increase to help fund a corporate tax cut, and to win people's support for this demand.

Shii said that this contradiction will unfailingly increase the distance between public interests and the government which is proposing to go even further in representing the interests of the United States and the Japanese big business circles.

Referring to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference President Libran N. Cabactulan's letter thanking the JCP for its contribution to the conference, Shii called for pride and confidence in the JCP position of saying what should be said whether to the United States government or to large Japanese corporations, and of working with the rest of the world for nuclear weapons abolition and true peace.

-Akahata, June 17, 2010