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2021 December 1 - 7 TOP3 [POLITICS]

PM Kishida in policy speech expresses intent to accelerate people-unfriendly policies

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

Prime Minister Kishida Fumio delivered a policy speech at the extraordinary Diet session convened on December 6. He in his speech stressed something new by using phrases such as "a new form of capitalism", "curving out a new era", and "future" many times. However, his speech shows that his government will continue "old-style policies" which have been implemented over nine years since the second Abe regime.

He insisted, "The first point is our growth strategy," under a new form of capitalism. He said the government will strengthen its support for large corporations on the pretext of promoting "digitalization" and "economic security". He touched upon "distributions" to people after "making bold investments for growth". The level of wage increases he referred to in his speech was far from what most workers have been demanding.

He said the government will improve the medical and testing systems as COVID-19 countermeasures, but did not reflect on the explosive surge of COVID-19 cases experienced this summer. As the omicron coronavirus variant is rapidly spreading around the world, his speech did not respond to people's concerns that whether the country is well prepared for a surge in omicron cases.

He did not explain at all about a series of scandals involving Liberal Democratic Party politicians, including the "Moritomo Gakuen," "Kake Gakuen", "cherry blossom-viewing party", and "large-scale vote-buying" scandals. His policy speech reveals his "so-what" attitude in regard to the extent of money-power politics. He said nothing about the government intervention in the proceedings of the Science Council of Japan.

He said that the construction of a new U.S. base in Nago City's Henoko in Okinawa is "the only possible solution", indicating that the government will not listen to Okinawans' demand for a peaceful, quiet Okinawa, which goes against what he calls "carefully designed and tolerant politics".

Regarding what is called "enemy base attack capability" which successive LDP governments have considered as unconstitutional, PM Kishida stated that his government will go ahead with military expansion by saying that it will "realistically examine all options" without "excluding all possibilities" with a "sense of speed".

Regarding "constitutional reform", he said he looks forward to having "active discussions taking place in the Diet". He added that "to deepen the public understanding of the matter further" is imperative in parallel with these discussions, hinting at a new provision pertaining to the Self-Defense Forces to be included in Article 9 of the Constitution which currently stipulates non-possession of offensive war capabilities.