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2023 June 21 - 27 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Shii: 211th ordinary Diet session exposed unscrupulousness of 4-party coalition

The 150-day ordinary session of the Diet closed on June 21. Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo, at a JCP Dietmembers' general assembly held on the same day, highlighted that JCP lawmakers during the session shed light on the true nature of the major arms buildup (5-year, 43 trillion-yen budget) by the Kishida government seeking to put Japan at the forefront of the U.S. military strategy to counter China.

Shii said that JCP legislators presented "peaceful countermeasures" to the Diet, and that the JCP in March announced the proposal, "For positive breakthroughs in Japan-China relations - Proposals by the Japanese Communist Party".

He pointed out that JCP Dietmembers, in order to protect people's livelihoods from rising prices, submitted concrete counterproposals, including the temporary levy of a tax on large corporations' internal reserves to secure enough funds to increase the minimum hourly wage to 1,500 yen, to implement a reduction in the consumption tax rate, cancel the tax-invoice system, and improve childrearing support programs.

He said that in the latter half of the session, "bad" bills one after another became laws such as the laws to fund the planned military buildup and to support the arms industry, the five laws on nuclear energy promotion, and the adverse revision of the Immigration Control Act. He added that the JCP in cooperation with civic groups straightforwardly confronted proponents of these bad laws.

He called on JCP Dietmembers to keep working with concerned citizens to prevent the bad laws from taking effect.

He pointed out that the steamrolling through of those laws revealed the Kishida government iron-fist rule in addition to the unscrupulous tactics used by the ruling Liberal Democratic-Komei Parties and their supplementary force of the "Ishin" party and the Democratic Party for the People. He stressed the need to deal a blow to this 4-party coalition in the forthcoming general election.

Past related articles:
> LGBT bill far from eliminating discrimination becomes law [June 16 & 17, 2023]
> Bill to set up fund for 43-trillion-yen military buildup enacted [June 16 & 17, 2023]
> Bill to financially support arms industry enacted [June 7 & 8, 2023]
> Gov't bill ignoring asylum seekers' human rights enacted [June 10, 2023]
> GX bundled bill extending N-reactor lifespan to over 60 years becomes law [June 1, 2023]