All town and village heads oppose TPP

Japan Press Weekly

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

All town and village heads oppose TPP

The National Association of Towns and Villages, consisting of all town and village office heads in Japan, has adopted an urgent resolution calling on the central government to stop considering participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).

The Association on November 4 made representations to the government, arguing that the TPP “will destroy Japan’s agriculture, forestry, and fishery industries and will possibly threaten the very source of a stable supply of food.”

The resolution points out that the government has so far proclaimed that Japan “will not do anything that undermines the promotion of domestic agriculture” in such international bodies as the World Trade Organization (WTO). The resolution criticizes the government’s consideration of joining the TPP as creating an “inconsistency between its words and actions.”

The government is also being inconsistent with its goal to achieve an increase in the nation’s food and timber self-sufficiency rate to 50%. The resolution expresses strong doubts about whether the government is aiming to achieve this goal or not.

- Akahata, November 5, 2010