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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

End extraordinary subservience to the U.S.: JCP Shii

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on June 30 issued the following statement on the Japan-U.S. summit talks held in Washington, D.C. on the previous day:

Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro and U.S. President George W. Bush held talks on June 29 in Washington. The published statement entitled "The Japan-U.S. Alliance of the New Century" referred to "the broadened and enhanced cooperation achieved in the alliance under their joint stewardship" since they took office and that they "together heralded a new U.S.-Japan Alliance of Global Cooperation for the 21st Century."

The point is that the two leaders used their joint document to give a clear definition to the "Japan-U.S. global alliance" which they called for in their 2003 summit. This is an important move in that they literally aim to broaden and enhance the Japan-U.S. military alliance setup into a global alliance.

The two leaders confirmed that Japan and the United States have "common strategic objectives" and called for the importance of fighting terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. They confirmed that they will establish a setup for military cooperation in the event of a preemptive war. They also stressed that the bilateral accord that would integrate the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. forces is the "most significant realignment of U.S. and Japanese forces in decades" and called for the full and prompt implementation of the agreements to make the U.S. military presence "more endurable and effective."

All this will help the move to adversely revise the Japanese Constitution to revoke the ban on Japan's use of force abroad as an exercise of the right of collective defense.

The agreement on taking "steps forward that make the U.S. military presence more enduring and effective" is nothing less than a declaration that U.S. bases in Japan will further strengthen their functions and make their presence permanent well into the 21st century. We must not allow Japan and the United States to try to continue to high-handedly to strengthen the functions of U.S. bases in Japan in disregard of local governments and residents.

The joint document praised the measures that have been taken in the last five years in response to U.S. demands and interventions in the name of "Economic Partnership for Growth," including various deregulations and the privatization of the postal services.

The United States now plans to promote M&A (mergers and acquisitions) by U.S. companies, and press Japan to introduce a white collar exemption and allow more medical services to be provided by for-profit companies. These measures will remould the Japanese economy to fit in with the U.S. economic model, shifting additional burdens and costs onto the Japanese people. They will also increase Japan's economic and social contradictions. This is totally unacceptable.

Japan's diplomatic subservience to the United States must be ended. While working hard to broaden cooperation in the struggle against the strengthening of the functions of U.S. bases in Japan and the adverse revision of the Constitution and for other common demands of the general public, the Japanese Communist Party will make every effort to increase popular awareness of the need to abrogate the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, the root cause of Japan's policy of subservience to the United States.
- Akahata, July 1, 2006