May 10, 2024

Japanese Communist Party Vice Chair Ogata Yasuo on May 8 held talks with German Left Party (Die Linke) official Axel Gehring, an advisor to the party’s Department of International Policy, at the Left Party’s head office in Berlin.

Gehring reported on the ongoing situation surrounding the European Parliament election (scheduled to be held June 6-9). Ogata expressed his expectations for a major advance of the Left Party in the election.

The two exchanged views on international affairs as well as on their countries’ domestic issues. Talking about Japan’s political scene, Ogata explained that the Japanese government used the Japan-U.S. summit talks in April as an opportunity to further strengthen the military alliance with the U.S. The Left Party official said that following the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Germany has increased its military spending drastically and deepened its military cooperation with the U.S.

They confirmed that the two parties will advance cooperation for peace and work to oppose military alliances. They also confirmed that the two parties will exchange information regarding theoretical and ideological issues of mutual interest, such as socialism.