KoizumiPolitics

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DPJ's mail scandal does not wipe out Koizumi Cabinet's negative influences

On March 2, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo at a press conference said that the e-mail fiasco of the Democratic Party of Japan does not wipe out the harmful influences caused by the policies of the Koizumi Cabinet.

Referring to the e-mail that a DPJ representative cited as evidence showing the cozy relations between a senior Liberal Democratic Party leader's son and the former Livedoor president in his questioning in the Diet, Shii said, "No party is allowed to accuse anybody based on false information."

He stated at the same time, "However, the Koizumi Cabinet must not use this issue in order to hide from the public the failures of its domestic and diplomatic policies."

Pointing out many harmful effects of the Koizumi "structural reform," including the issues of falsified quake-resistance data, BSE, bid-rigging involving the Defense Agency, Livedoor, and the widening gap between rich and poor, Shii criticized the Koizumi Cabinet for railroading through the FY 2006 draft budget without sincerely reflecting on those issues.

He pointed out that the prime minister's visits to Yasukuni Shrine causes the weakening of Japan's diplomacy toward Asia, and that the strengthening of U.S. bases draws sharp criticism from local municipalities throughout the nation. "In these issues, the Koizumi Cabinet takes a so-what attitude and bulldozes its way through without thought," said Shii.

The JCP chair stated, "The JCP continues to struggle in the Diet to address the fundamental problems of the Koizumi Cabinet."
- Akahata, March 3, 2006