Japan Press Weekly

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2015 August 5 - 11 TOP3 [JCP]

Shii holds talks with French CP leader

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on August 4 at the JCP head office received a 10-member delegation of the French Communist Party headed by national secretary Pierre Laurent and held talks with them.

The two leaders confirmed that the two parties will develop their cooperation and solidarity relations in regard to common global tasks, such as the creation of a peaceful international order based on the UN Charter, opposition to military alliances, the total abolition of nuclear weapons, the establishment of a democratic international economic order, and the fight against global warming.

FCP Laurent said that in France, though Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande became the French president in 2012, his administration implemented neo-liberal economic policies which deepened social and economic crises. He went on to say that taking advantage of public dissatisfaction and disappointment with the Hollande government, far-right groups are gaining in strength.

The FCP leader explained that the party is achieving advances through its efforts to fight back against the tyranny of finance capital, protect people’s lives and social welfare, and form the Left Front based on peace, democracy, and environmental protection. Laurent also said that the FCP is calling for France’s withdrawal from NATO and the dissolution of the military alliance.

JCP Shii said that the two parties have much in common as they are both communist parties in highly-developed capitalist economies. He told his French counterpart about the JCP Program, party history, and current party activities.

Shii said that the JCP is working to change Japanese society to a democratic one by putting an end to Japan’s extreme subservience to the U.S. and the tyrannical rule of large corporations. Citing the Abe administration’s attempt to undermine Article 9 of the Constitution and turn Japan into a war-fighting nation, Shii expressed his determination to hamper this attempt together with a wide range of the general public.

Shii also mentioned the 2011 nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. He pointed out that the nuclear accident caused damage that is totally different from that caused by other kinds of disasters. Shii said that even four and a half years after the disaster, a large number of victims are still living as evacuees. He stressed that the JCP is waging struggles against the restart of idled nuclear reactors and working to achieve a Japan free from nuclear power generation.

In conclusion, the JCP chair said that the party established its position of sovereign independence through struggles against the hegemonism of the former Communist Party of the Soviet Union and that the party maintains this position as the basic principle in the party program.

Other participants in the talks included JCP Vice Chair Ogata Yasuo.