June 9, 2022

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on June 7 met with Ambassador of Sweden to Japan Pereric Hogberg at the JCP head office upon receiving a request from the Swedish Embassy to hear about each political party’s campaign pledges for the impending House of Councilors election.

Shii talked about the key points in the JCP election platform and exchanged views with the ambassador on various topics such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the political climate in Japan, peace in East Asia and Europe, the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), and gender equality. On each issue, Shii explained the JCP position.

The ambassador gave Shii the background leading Sweden to participate as an observer in the first meeting of TPNW state parties and to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Shii stated that the upcoming election will determine whether Japan will choose a course for “peacebuilding through diplomacy” by making the best use of the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution or for “plunging into a vicious cycle of military escalation” by taking advantage of the Ukraine crisis to further militarize.

While answering questions from the ambassador, Shii detailed the JCP stance toward military alliances, the nuclear deterrence theory, and the TPNW.