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2015/11/10
Okada quizzes PM in lower house budget committee
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On November 10, DPJ President Katsuya Okada questioned Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on his opinions during a session of the House of Representatives Committee on Budget held during the Diet recess.
Okada first raised the issue of Abe’s view of the Constitution, saying, “Does the Prime Minister intend to revise the Constitution and change Article 9 to allow unrestricted use of the right to collective self-defense?” He went on to raise the question: “If you gain more than two-thirds of the seats in both Houses of the Diet, are you intending to submit a constitution revision proposal to the Diet to allow unrestricted use of collective defense? In this sense, next year’s House of Councillors election will be extremely significant.” Okada also commented on the security legislation passed in the previous Diet session, saying, “We will submit a proposal to scrap the portions of the legislation that infringe against the Constitution.”
Okada also commented on foreign affairs, stating, “Why was it not possible to hold a Japan-China-Republic of Korea (ROK) leadership summit for three years? A relationship of trust between the leaders is a requirement, but prior to taking office, the Prime Minister made many careless remarks which lost a great deal of trust. He needs to seriously reflect on this.” He also touched on the comfort women issue, which still remains a point of contention with the ROK, and urged the Prime Minister to make serious efforts towards reconciliation, stating, “You say that this issue has been settled legally. But just because it has been settled legally, it does not mean that everything has been settled. In order to achieve reconciliation, efforts from not just one, but both sides are called for.”
On the economy, Okada pointed out: (1) regular employment has decreased dramatically under the Abe administration, (2) the value of real wages is being eroded, (3) the minimum wage should be raised to a reasonable level, (4) the new third arrow of Abenomics is difficult to understand and sources of funding are unclear, and (5) with the improvement in the economy now is the time to engage in rebuilding public finances.
Finally Okada stated, “We call for an extraordinary Diet session to be convened as stipulated in Article 53 of the Constitution. The Constitution states that an extraordinary Diet session should be convened. We want the government to convene the session by December.”
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