April 29, 2021

The Japanese Diet approved the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) in the Upper House plenary session on April 28 by majority vote of the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties. The Japanese Communist Party voted against the approval.

Near the Diet building, the Japan Family Farmers Movement (Nouminren) and the National Liaison Association to Safeguard the Food and the Health of the Nation (Zenkoku-Shokkenren) staged a protest against Diet approval for the RCEP free-trade deal.

Tateno Yutaka, Zenkoku-Shokkenren secretary general, said, "I strongly protest against the passage of Diet approval for the RCEP agreement with only 16 hours of Diet discussions in total in both chambers."

Yoshikawa Toshiaki, Nouminren secretary general, said that the government is trying to deceive family farmers by insisting, "Domestic agriculture would not be affected." Yoshikawa called for strengthening the farmers' movement to protect family farmers and help raise Japan's food self-sufficiency rate.

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Kami Tomoko emphasized the need to stop the unilateral liberalization of farm products and to make a shift to adopt an agricultural policy putting importance on Japan's food sovereignty.

The RCEP is a trade agreement signed by 15 countries, including Japan, China, South Korea, and Southeast Asian countries. Tariffs on vegetables and fruits will be lifted under this pact. The production value in domestic agriculture as a whole and in vegetables/fruits is estimated to decrease by about 560 billion yen and 85.6 billion yen, respectively.

Past related article:
> JCP: Japan should withdraw from RCEP free-trade framework [April 10, 2021]