September 30, 2021

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on September 29 at a press conference in the Diet building commented on the election of Kishida Fumio as new Liberal Democratic Party president, saying, “This indicates the LDP’s stance to maintain the Abe/Suga policy line.”

Kishida served the 9-year-long Abe/Suga administrations as a key member of the Cabinet and the ruling party. In the LDP presidential race, Kishida promised to go forward with constitutional revision, reactivation of offline reactors, and a huge military buildup. On the other hand, he showed no intent to conduct investigations into Abe/Suga-linked scandals over abuses of power and to learn from mistakes that the Abe/Suga governments made in dealing with the pandemic.

Referring to these points, Shii in his comment stated that Kishida is a direct heir to the Abe/Suga policies, and said, “Kishida’s election only changed the LDP outwardly, like having the same old wine in a different bottle.”

Shii stressed that the need now is to put a full stop to the LDP-Komei policies which have reached an impasse as they were found to be incompetent in handling the pandemic while using high-handed political tactics and tolerating political corruption. He expressed his determination to make all-out efforts to establish a new government through the joint struggles of opposition parties with concerned citizens.

Past related article:
> All 4 LDP presidential candidates have no intent to shift away from Abe/Suga policies [September 18, 2021]