JCP chair demands government stand firmly for Constitution's Article 9 in defense of peace

Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo used his question time in the House of Representatives Plenary Session on February 7 to criticize the Koizumi Cabinet's foreign policy.

Pointing out that U.S. allies in Europe are concerned about or opposed to the U.S. attempt to expand its war of retaliation beyond Afghanistan to all over the world, Shii urged Prime Minister Koizumi to stand firm against such a dangerous U.S. policy.

Warning that U.S. President George W. Bush's State of the Union address referred to North Korea, Iran, and Iraq as an "axis of evil," and signaled that the U.S. is prepared to strike them unilaterally, Shii asked if Prime Minister Koizumi supports such an outrageous position that will destroy the international order of peace under the U. N. Charter.

In reply, Prime Minister Koizumi defended the U.S. position, saying, "President Bush stated nothing about military action the United States might take in the future as part of the war of retaliation or a war against a specific country."

Shii said that the true aim of the wartime legislation the government and the ruling parties call for is to establish a system under which Japan and the U.S. may jointly carry out a war against other countries, although they use the ideological cover of "Providing is preventing" as a pretext.

Pointing out that Japan can best be defended by Article 9 of the Constitution, which renounces war, Shii demanded that Japan's foreign policy be changed from the present obsequious one in subordination to the United States to an independent and self-reliant one that depends on peaceful means. (end)