March 13, 2019

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on March 12 met with Chansy Phosikham, the head of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee Organization Commission, at the JCP head office in Tokyo, reaffirming the cooperation between the two parties to establish a world without nuclear weapons and achieve peace in East Asia.

Shii welcomed the visit of the executive of Lao's ruling party, and said that he hopes to increase mutual cooperation on the implementation of the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons which Laos signed and ratified. Shii conveyed Japanese antinuke activists' gratitude for the message sent to the World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb from Lao's President Bounnyang Vorachit.

Shii also talked about the JCP proposal for the building of a framework of peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia by learning from the example set by the ASEAN nations to resolve every dispute through peaceful dialogue. Shii also said he hails the continuing efforts to hold discussions to settle North Korea's nuclear issue despite the many difficulties which need to be overcome.

Referring to the Laotian war of independence, Chansy Phosikham said that war destroys everything and that the world would face a disaster if a nuclear war broke out. He said that he is convinced of the power of the UN treaty proclaiming the prohibition of nuclear weapons and that the first step taken by North Korea and the United States was very important in regard to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. He recalled back in the war days when he was listening to the radio stating that the communist party in Japan is opposing the U.S. bombing of Laos. "It was very encouraging," Chansy Phosikham said.

Past related article:
> JCP holds meeting with Laos’ ruling party [June 2-4, 2016]