Koizumi Cabinet's abnormal submission to U.S. and indifference to public needs: JCP Shii

After the Lower House voted to reject the nonconfidence bill in the Koizumi Cabinet on July 25, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo stated to the press, "The need now is to end the Koizumi Cabinet's extraordinary submission to the United States and its indifference to public needs."

Referring to the cabinet's support for the U.S.-led Iraq war and the enactment of the contingency bills, as well as its push for the bill to dispatch the Self-defense Forces to Iraq, Shii stated, "Japan is moving towards accepting every U.S. request for cooperation and supporting U.S. wars. This extraordinary submissiveness must not be allowed to continued unabated. It is a matter of grave public concern."

Shii also criticized the Koizumi Cabinet for following adverse policies in disregard of the decade-long recession and declines in personal income and spending. He cited the series of drastic increases in people's burdens for public services, increases in bankruptcies of smaller businesses under the policy of the "early disposal of bad loans", and increasing unemployment as a result of the policy of encouraging major corporations to accelerate restructuring. (end)