Japan Press Weekly

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2014 November 26 - December 2 [JCP]

JCP issues election platform

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on November 26 held a press conference at the JCP head office and introduced the published JCP election platform to challenge the Abe government in the upcoming general election. The party intends to appeal to voters to take this opportunity to change the direction of policies.

The platform maintains the party’s longstanding call for a ban on corporate political donations and for the abolition of public funding to political parties because of their contribution to widespread political corruption. In the run-up to the official start of the election campaign, the JCP focuses on five important issues in the platform and promises:

No Consumption tax hike
- Cancel, not postpone, the consumption tax increase to 10%;
- review the present tax system and have large corporations and wealthy people pay appropriate rates of taxes according to their ability to pay;
- utilize a small portion of corporate internal reserves to raise wages, which in turn will lead to an increase in tax revenues; and
- by doing this, the country can secure the funding of 40 trillion yen needed for social welfare and for a solution to the fiscal crisis.

Counter Abenomics
- Establish decent work rules to overcome negative effects of Abenomics which has widened poverty and social disparities;
- end further cuts in welfare services and instead expand social service programs;
- withdraw from the TPP free trade negotiations;
- support small- and medium-sized enterprises along with the agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries, and promote local economies; and
- develop disaster-resistant community building and city planning.

Peace
- Retract the Cabinet decision on Japan’s use of the right to collective self-defense and deter Japan from turning into a war-capable nation abroad; and
- establish diplomatic strategies based on the principle of Article 9 of the Constitution to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region:

Nuclear energy
- Keep all the nuclear power plants shut down;
- oppose the policy of exporting nuclear technologies;
- provide necessary support to all the nuclear disaster victims; and
- work for a nuclear-free Japan.

Okinawa
- Cancel the new U.S. base construction in Okinawa; and
- create an Okinawa without military bases.