Fuwa explains why Constitution must be defended

On June 23, Fuwa Tetsuzo, Japanese Communist Party Central Committee chair, gave a lecture at a political study meeting sponsored by a Tokyo radio station. The theme was the significance of the Japanese Constitution in a global context.

Fuwa was one of two speakers for the first of a six-part lecture series organized June-November by the Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Inc. to give citizens an opportunity to learn more about politics from politicians. The other speaker was Nakasone Yasuhiro, a constitutional revision advocate and former prime minister.

Fuwa expounded on the significance of the Constitution in three aspects:

First, he reminded the audience that the war-renouncing Article 9 was established against the background of the growing political demand after WWII for a world that rejects wars. In the present-day international political arena, this has become a goal that opens a new perspective for the future, Fuwa said.

Second, he stressed that the call for Article 9 to be abolished or adversely revised comes from the United States and that advocates of constitutional revision want to enable Japan to fully participate in U.S. preemptive wars. Fuwa warned that if Japan sends troops abroad by adversely revising the Constitution, Japan will be isolated from the rest of Asia.

Thirdly, Fuwa said that far from being outdated, the Constitution takes pride in its human rights provisions that played a pioneering role in the world.

Fuwa's argument was in stark contrast with Nakasone, who expressed high expectations that constitutional revision will come up on the political agenda within the next six years. He also stressed that opposition Democratic Party of Japan is enthusiastic about constitutional revision. (end)