Japan Press Weekly

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2016 April 6 - 12 [ECONOMY]

JCP Kasai: Diet should reject TPP

Diet deliberations on a bill to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact and related bills began on April 5. Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Kasai Akira demanded the abolition of the bills by saying that once the treaty comes into effect, Japan’s economic sovereignty and people’s interests in all fields will be sold out to multinationals.

Kasai at a House of Representatives plenary meeting on the day criticized the government for having concluded the TPP in a clear violation of a Diet resolution that requires the government to ensure that agricultural products in the five key categories are excluded from tariff-cuts under the free trade pact. He also criticized that although the resolution called on the government to provide information regarding the content of the trade talks, the government neglected to do so.

Despite the fact that Prime Minister Abe Shinzo agreed to compromise on eliminating the tariffs on 30% of items in the five key categories, he claimed that the treaty is consistent with the objectives of the Diet resolution and insisted that the related information was adequately disclosed.

Kasai stated that food safety, medical care, labor, financial and insurance services and all other kinds of services will be exposed to deregulation by the TPP. He noted that in addition, the TPP has a provision banning retightening of relaxed rules and investor-state dispute settlement provisions enabling corporations and investors to sue governments over damage they suffer or may suffer. Saying, “It is clear that the TPP will pose a threat to people’s lives and businesses in the future,” Kasai demanded that the Diet should not give approval to the treaty.

Past related articles:
> ISDS provisions in TPP will cause damage to Japanese local economies [April 3, 2016]
> Tokyo Univ. professor points out problems with TPP [April 3, 2016]
> Abe gov’t puts forth TPP-related bills [March 9, 2016]