Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2016 April 6 - 12 [POLITICS]

Gov’t completely blacks out content of TPP documents

A 45-page TPP document the central government presented on April 5 in response to a request from opposition parties for access to the document was completely blacked out except for titles and dates, keeping all the details of the TPP negotiations secret.

At the April 7 Lower House special committee meeting on the TPP, opposition parties criticized the Abe Cabinet for blacking out the documents and again demanded that TPP-related information be fully disclosed.

However, Economic Revitalization Minister Ishihara Nobuteru flatly refused the demand by saying, “Basically, the process and content of the talks are not open to the public.” Prime Minister Abe Shinzo also said, “Everything is already in the agreement Japan reached,” exhibiting an attitude assuming that the Diet and the general public should accept the outcome of the negotiations quietly.

Before Japan entered the TPP talks in April 2013, the two Houses of the Diet respectively adopted a resolution urging the government to promptly report to the Diet any information on the free-trade negotiations and provide the public with data needed for an informed and a broad-based national discussion.

Past related articles:
> Abe gov’t puts forth TPP-related bill [March 9, 2016]
> PM speech on TPP cannot mask risky nature of free trade [January 25, 2016]
> Gov’t releases full text of negotiated TPP accord in Japanese translation following JCP request [January 9, 2016]