Japan Press Weekly

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2015 February 18 - 24 [POLITICS]

Shii to Abe: Don’t silence critical opinions by saying they are ‘giving in to terrorists’

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo has criticized Prime Minister Abe Shinzo for using sophistry to silence critical opinions in regard to government responses to the hostage crisis by saying that criticism of government actions “is tantamount to giving in to terrorists”.

At the House of Representatives plenary session on February 17, Shii took up the issue currently under question whether Abe had taken into consideration the possibility that his promise to provide 200 million dollars to the nations combating IS (Jan.17, Egypt) would put the two Japanese hostages in extreme danger. In regard to this, Abe has taken the position that such a question itself “is tantamount to giving in to terrorists” (Feb.3, Upper House).

Shii pointed out that by saying this, Abe is trying to avoid proper verification of the government handling of the tragedy, and told Abe to disclose all information necessary to examine the appropriateness of the government actions during the period from the abductions of the two up until the present.

Abe answered, “Taking into account intelligence information and relations with other countries, I will actively make public what is considered to be useful to counter terrorism.”

Shii then pointed to the U.S. retaliatory war against Afghanistan in 2001 which led to the creation and growth of extremist militias. “The U.S. war ‘against terrorists’ invited more terrorist attacks rather than eliminating them. On top of that, the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq brought about the morass of civil war. Amid the turmoil caused by these wars, terrorist groups arose and expanded their influence,” said Shii.

The Japanese government immediately expressed its support at that time and sent its troops to both the Afghan and Iraq wars. Shii said, “To help eradicate terrorism from the world, Japan should sincerely look back on its own history and its past experiences.”

He stated that the international community now agrees that no war can do away with terrorism and demanded that Japan join in concerted global efforts centering on the U.N. to get rid of terrorism based on law and reason.

Past related article:
> Abe’s thoughtless remarks led to two Japanese killings: JCP Koike [February 4, 2015]