 JCP to question the way tax money is used in next Diet debate Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi held a news conference on January 17 to explain the main issues which the JCP will raise in the ordinary Diet session that will be convened on January 21. Ichida said, "The JCP will give full play to its role in the next Diet debate while exposing the true purpose of the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties as well as the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan, but will cooperate with other parties if there is common ground." Ichida stated that the JCP will put forward a revised draft budget to replace the government budget which will force people to shoulder an extra 7-trillion yen in the next two years, and will reveal what negative impacts the Koizumi Cabinet's "structural reform" will have on people's livelihoods and the nation's economy as well as its finances. On issues concerning the Constitution, foreign policy, and security, Ichida said that the JCP will focus on the question of Iraq and the move to change the nation's security policy to one of enabling the Self-Defense Forces to operate abroad as their primary duty. Under the situation that revised constitutions will soon be drafted by the LDP and the DPJ, the JCP will intensify its activity to raise awareness about the significance of defending the Constitution in cooperation with movements outside the Diet, Ichida added. On the question of "money and politics," he went on to say that the JCP will propose banning companies and organizations from making political donations as the best measure to eradicate political corruption in order to defend parliamentary democracy. Ichida also indicated that the JCP continues to take up the issue in which LDP politicians put pressure on NHK, the public broadcasting corporation, to change the contents of a documentary program on sex slaves during WWII. (end) |