 Shii talks with Sri-Lankan ruling JVP leader Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo received two representatives of the Janatha Vimukthl Peramuna (JVP), a ruling coalition party of Sri Lanka, at the JCP head office in Tokyo on May 27. JVP Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe and M.D. Nandana Gunathillake, a JVC Political Bureau member and member of the Sri Lankan parliament, were in Japan at the invitation of the Japanese foreign minister. This is the first time the two parties sat together for talks. The JVP leader explained that his party won 41 seats in the 2004 parliamentary general election. He also stated that the JVP organized volunteers to relieve tsunami victims and that it continues to increase popular support for its activities in defense of the public well being. Shii first expressed sympathy for the Tsunami victims in Sri Lanka. Recalling his visit to Sri Lanka in December 2002, during which he had a meeting with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa (leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka at the time), he said he strongly felt that the JCP and Sri Lanka share a basic foreign policy of maintaining non-alignment and making efforts to establish a peaceful international order based on the United Nations Charter. Amarasinghe said that is exactly the position the JVP supports. Shii and Amarasinghe confirmed that any reform should be promoted through parliament based on majority support. They also agreed to develop bilateral relations by exchanging experiences and information. - Akahata, May 28, 2005 |