July 14&17, 2024

Japanese Communist Party Vice Chair Ogata Yasuo held talks with the president of the Party of the European Left (EL), Walter Baier, at the venue of the Summer University held by the EL and a left wing think tank, “Transform!Europe”, from July 11 to July 14 in Mieres in Spain.

Baier thanked Ogata for his participation and said that as the only participant from Asia, the JCP’s presence gave a special significance to this event. He talked about the results of the EU Parliamentary election in June and subsequent developments in the situation in Europe.

The two confirmed that the two parties will continue to cooperate in efforts to establish a peace order based on the UN Charter, oppose military alliances, abolish nuclear weapons, tackle the climate crisis, and realize gender equality. They also confirmed that an exploration of theories, such as those on a future society, will be added to the two parties’ cooperation. In addition, they discussed introducing an exchange of high-level delegations aimed at strengthening the two parties’ ties.

Ogata referred to the JCP “Proposals for Peace Creation in East Asia” which was published in April, and said that the main points of the proposals are to value diplomacy over military options, establish an inclusive framework rather than an exclusive one, and utilize the lessons learned from the East Asia Summit. Baier said that the JCP proposals are significant for Europe and expressed his intent to study them.

Ogata also talked with representatives of the Belgium Workers’ Party, the French Greens party, Finland’s Left Alliance party, and the Swiss Party of Labor.

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On the second day of the Summer University, Ogata spoke as a panelist with representatives from the Palestinian Democratic Union, the Communist Party of Israel, the Polisario Front, and the Communist Party of Colombia in a panel discussion held under the theme of imperialism.

Ogata explained that the JCP, which defines the United States as “imperialist” in its Program, is opposed to hegemony by any great power.

Ogata pointed out that compliance with the UN Charter became an international standard after many countries across the world united in the unanimous call, “Uphold the UN Charter,” in reaction to the U.S. war against Iraq in 2003. He said that the current military hegemony by some countries is a grave concern for UN Charter-based international peace.

Ogata spoke about the reality of U.S. domination in Japan under the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty represented by the concentration of U.S. military bases in Okinawa and a recent series of sex crimes by U.S. soldiers in Okinawa. He stated that military bases and respect for human dignity are incompatible.