October 12, 2022

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on October 11 in the Diet building met with representatives of the Civil Alliance working to abolish the national security legislation (or war laws) and restore constitutionalism, and exchanged views on ways to rebuild collaborative ties between concerned citizens and opposition parties.

JCP Secretariat Head Koike Akira, JCP Policy Commission Chair Tamura Tomoko, and JCP Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji also attended the meeting.

Civil Alliance representative Takada Ken pointed out that people participating in public movements gained a newfound confidence through their struggles to oppose Abe’s “state funeral”, and added that political sentiments among people began changing.

Shii pointed out that the development of public movements is a key to rebooting the cooperation between opposition parties and concerned citizens. He said, “It is heartening to see more and more people standing up to voice their anger at the state funeral and the Liberal Democratic Party’s ties with the Moonies.” He expressed his hope that people’s struggles in various fields will rebuild and develop collaborative relations between opposition parties and concerned citizens and that opposition/concerned citizens joint efforts will take an invigorated path.

Furthermore, Shii pointed out that the situation concerning the war laws, Japan’s huge military buildup, and the possibility of an adverse revision of Article 9 of the Constitution is becoming very dangerous. He said that as the JCP recognizes the abolition of the war laws as the top priority issue in opposition parties/concerned citizens joint struggles, the party will work hard to achieve this goal.

In response, Civil Alliance representative Fukuyama Shingo said that the Civil Alliance will also continue to make the utmost efforts to repeal the war laws and restore constitutionalism.

Prior to the talks, the Civil Alliance handed to the JCP a written request demanding that opposition parties join hands to confront the Kishida government on issues related to the LDP’s ties with the Moonies, corruption scandals involving former Prime Minister Abe and the LDP, people’s living conditions, Japan’s huge military buildup, the promotion of nuclear power generation, and the U.S. base construction in Henoko.

The Civil Alliance on the day also handed the written request to the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Social Democratic Party and will send the document to the Democratic Party for the People, the “Reiwa Shinsenguni” party, and the Upper House political group “Okinawa Whirlwind”.