Japan Press Weekly

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2015 February 25 - March 3 [POLITICS]

Ex-LDP executives strongly disapprove of Abe’s runaway policies

Former executives of the Liberal Democratic Party one after another are expressing their criticism of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo for insolently throwing away the principles postwar conservative governments have stood by for years.

Former LDP President Kono Yohei during a lecture held on February 24 in Nagoya City (Aichi Pref.) criticized the current LDP president for his announced plan to issue a new statement this summer to replace the 1993 Kono Statement and the 1995 Murayama Statement. The new statement will reportedly downplay prewar Japan’s “acts of aggression and colonial rules” as well as its involvement in the system of wartime “comfort stations under a coercive atmosphere”. Kono said, “It will never be accepted for official understandings of history to be changed every ten years.”

Kono said, “It seems to me that Abe feels free from the restraints successive LDP leaders have exercised in dealing with various issues.” He went on to say, “To me, Abe looks like a rightwing politician rather than just a conservative.”

Former Secretary General of the LDP Nonaka Hiromu on a TBS news show aired on February 15 touched on the Henoko base issue. He said, “I cannot abide by his (Abe’s) blatant disregard for Okinawa Governor Onaga and Okinawans.” Nonaka angrily added, “I hate to admit it, but the LDP is looking down on Okinawa insultingly. I really feel bad about that.”

Koga Makoto, also a former LDP secretary general, said, “Abe should be a little more humble about the accomplishments his predecessors have made over a lengthy period of time.”

Koga in an interview for the latest issue (March 6) of weekly magazine Shukan Asahi expressed deep concern about the situation of the recent LDP. He said, “They (the current LDP leadership) are not discussing the basic question why they think they need to take up the issue of the use of the collective self-defense right now.”

Former Vice President of the LDP Yamasaki Taku in an interview in the same issue of Shukan Asahi also referred to the collective self-defense right. He said, “Abe shouldn’t chip away at Japan’s 70 years of postwar diplomatic security policies without Cabinet approval.”