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2019 January 23 - 29 TOP3 [JCP]

Shii: Let us engage in Diet discussions leading to JCP advance in this year’s major elections

On January 28, the opening day of the 198th Diet session, the Japanese Communist Party parliamentarians’ group held a general meeting. JCP Chair Shii Kazuo delivered a speech and called on all the JCP lawmakers to conduct Diet discussions that will pave the way for a JCP advance in the upcoming nationwide simultaneous local elections and this summer’s House of Councilors election.

Shii said that the falsification in the monthly labor survey by the Labor Ministry caused damage to 20 million people receiving unemployment benefits or workers’ accident compensation insurance benefits. He went on to say that it also affected the process of making government policies concerning taxation, social welfare, and labor and shook the foundation for the coming Diet deliberation on the FY2019 draft budget. Referring to the fact that the ministry in January 2018 secretly made corrections to improperly-collected labor survey data before publication, Shii stressed that it was an organizational cover-up. He said that the government should initiate thorough fact-finding efforts without delay.

In the current ordinary Diet session, Shii proposed to focus on blocking the planned consumption tax hike to 10% and reconstructing the economy by giving top priority to people’s livelihoods. He also stressed the need to take a lead in Diet deliberations with the aim of preventing Abe’s moves to create a “war-fighting country”, including a massive military buildup and a constitutional revision and putting a stop to the construction of a new U.S. base in Okinawa’s Henoko district. Furthermore, he said that the creation of a Japan without nuclear power should be another key issue in this Diet session.

In addition, Shii pointed out that the Abe government is extremely submissive to the U.S. as shown by PM Abe’s yielding to U.S. pressure, which led to a huge amount of U.S. weapons purchases and the opening of negotiations on a Japan-U.S. free trade agreement. Shii added that concerning diplomatic relations with Russia, the Abe government is weak-kneed in regard to the territorial issue.

Shii said that in this Diet session, it is necessary for JCP lawmakers to strive to promote joint struggles between concerned citizens and opposition parties as well as to engage in Diet deliberations based on the JCP Program. Through these activities, Shii stressed, the party will build momentum to realize a JCP advance in this year’s major elections.

Past related articles:
> JCP publishes platform for upcoming nationwide simultaneous local elections [January, 19, 2019]
> Shii in New Year assembly calls for stepping up efforts to win Upper House and simultaneous local elections [January, 5, 2019]