Shii: Make U.N.-led peaceful resolution reality
In an interview with ASAHI NEWSTAR, a communication satellite television, broadcast on November 13, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo commented on the acceptance by Iraq of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 concerning U.N. inspections of weapons of mass destruction.
Asked by the interviewer to evaluate Resolution 1441, Shii said it is important to note that the United States, which proposed the resolution, denied any "hidden triggers" or "automaticity" with respect to the use of force.
"Equally important is the joint statement of three UNSC permanent members, France, Russia, and China," Shii said. This, he said, confirms that the Security Council will be mandated to decide on further steps to take against Iraq's incompliance, if any occur.
The JCP chair said that this is why Syria, the only Arab member of UNSC, voted in favor of the resolution upon the guarantee of non-automaticity with respect to the use of force. He stressed that the unanimous vote in the Security Council is significant and that the UNSC resolution has opened a way for the question to be resolved peacefully within the U.N. framework.
Commenting on U.S. government officials referring to the possibility of a U.S. unilateral military attack outside the UNSC framework, Shii said that if such an attack occurs, it will violate both the U.N. Charter and UNSC Resolution 1441.
Shii emphasized that the UNSC resolution mirrors the keen desire of the international community calling for the question to be resolved peacefully and a war to be averted by all means. He said that behind the Security Council, there is mounting public opinion and movements of peoples and governments, including those in the Middle East, calling for a war to be averted.
Noting that a peaceful resolution of the question is just a possibility at present, Shii said that the result depends on the struggle against U.S. unilateral action. He said that the task is to continue the struggle to avert war. (end)