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On June 5, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada held his regular press conference. During the conference, in addition to commenting on the release of Toshikazu Sugaya, originally convicted of the Ashikaga kidnap-murder, and the disagreement of whether to replace the head of Japan Post, Okada commented on the government’s prospective mid-term targets for global warming gases.
With regard to the government targets, which are to be announced on June 10, Okada said that there seemed to be no sign of a direction emerging from the ongoing discussions, and stated he had heard that the ruling parties were divided on this issue. He commented that the DPJ had submitted a “Global Warming Countermeasures Bill” to the House of Councillors, and was calling for a target of “reductions of 25% by the year 2020”, but that although the party was calling for debate on this legislation the relevant committee had not been convened, and said that “The response of the government in trying to avoid debate at such a crucial moment, while going so far as to call for comments from the public, is extremely problematic.”
Okada expressed his concern that the Japanese government was holding an extremely one-sided debate, “not debating the negative aspects [of leaving global warming to proceed unchecked] such as high tides and unstable climate conditions, but just talking about the burden [of global warming countermeasures].” He stressed, “What is important is political leadership. If Japan is to be fully involved in leading the world, it is necessary for us to set high target figures, convince China and India, and make a bold challenge toward resolving the issue of global warming.” Okada also called for a positive response from Japanese industry, saying that this would be an opportunity to strengthen the Japanese economy.
Okada also referred to the release of Mr. Sugaya, saying that the DPJ, in conjunction with the Social Democratic Party, had previously submitted a bill calling for visual recording of interrogations to the Diet, which had been passed by the House of Councillors, but which had never been debated even once in the House of Representatives. He called for the legislation to be debated during the extension to the Diet session, saying, “It is a disgrace that a private members’ bill created by the largest opposition party has not even been debated.”
Regarding the debate within the government over changes at the top of Japan Post, Okada expressed the opinion, “It has once again brought home Prime Minister Aso’s lack of governing ability, his lack of leadership” and voiced the concern that “if a serious incident were to arise, would this cabinet be able to deal with it?”
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