April 8, 2022

The Japanese Communist Party on April 7 held a rally at its head office in Tokyo, connecting online with party organizations across the country in order for the entire party to be ready for the forthcoming House of Councilors election. JCP Chair Shii Kazuo gave an Executive Committee report which more than 11,000 party members viewed with their local JCP committee members via the intranet. The report was also available on YouTube.

Shii in the report said that the JCP looks to a world without military alliances and therefore is opposed to the eastward expansion of NATO. However, Ukraine's initial intent to join NATO is no excuse for Russia to invade Ukraine. Shii criticized the "both are to blame" argument raised among some people in Japan for putting an aggressor and a victim in the same boat and for undermining the international peace order under the UN Charter.

Shii said that the current situation is very grave, pointing out the importance of seeing things from a broadened perspective. Shii cited two UNGA resolutions which condemn Russia's armed aggression with more than 140 State Parties voting in favor. He said that this has historic significance showing a "structural change in the 21st world".

Shii said that the JCP has consistently criticized Russian hegemonism since the era of the Soviet Union for "having nothing to do with socialism", and presented the JCP Program which specifies, "The JCP will do all it can to build up international solidarity to help stop hegemonistic interventions, war, oppression and domination by any nation, establish an international order for peace, and achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world and a world without military alliances."

Shii touched upon a dangerous call for "a Japan capable of fighting wars" by taking advantage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He said that Prime Minister Kishida advocates Japan's possession of "enemy-strike capability"; former Prime Minister Abe and the right-leaning "Nippon Ishin no Kai" party call for Japan's "nuclear sharing"; and the Democratic Party for the People, which joined the ruling coalition, has begun calling for revision of the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution and agrees with the need for Japan to have an "enemy-strike capability".

Shii said that the House of Councilors election slated for the coming summer will influence Japan's future course - war or peace. He called for a JCP advance in the election to block an attempt to turn Japan into a "country capable of fighting in wars abroad".