Shii attends Fourth of July reception

Japan Press Weekly

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

Shii attends Fourth of July reception

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on July 2 attended the U.S. Independence Day reception at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.

Shii was the first JCP leader to be invited to attend the Fourth of July reception.

Thanking him for the invitation, Shii told James Zumwalt, charge d'affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy, that the U.S. independence in 1776 was an historical milestone marking the birth of the world's first democratic republic and the issuance of the world's first Declaration of The Rights of Man.

Referring to the letter he had sent in late April to President Obama in response to his call for a "world without nuclear weapons" and the letter of response he had received in mid-May from the U.S. government, Shii expressed his gratitude to the ambassador for his cooperation in this regard.

The ambassador thanked Shii for attending the reception and offering congratulations on the Fourth of July, adding that he would cooperate with the JCP where it is possible to do so.

- Akahata, July 3, 2009