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2010/03/10
Hatoyama, Hirano comment on child allowance bill and secret agreement
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On the evening of March 10, Prime Minister and DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama responded to reporters’ questions at the Prime Minister’s Office. On the subject of revisions to the child allowance legislation being discussed with New Komeito, he said, “I haven’t received any report that agreement has been reached on revisions. We are at the stage where efforts are being made to reach such an agreement. As an administration, we would appreciate it if New Komeito were to vote in favour of the child allowance bill.”
The previous day, a committee of experts established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate the so-called secret agreement on bringing in nuclear weapons into Japan had submitted their report concluding that such an agreement had existed to Minister for Foreign Affairs Katsuya Okada. In the wake of this, Hatoyama was asked whether he had confirmed the current state of affairs with the United States. He replied, “Due to the 1991 [US] policy of removing nuclear weapons from its ships, I do not envisage that we have a situation where nuclear weapons are being brought into Japan. The Three Non-Nuclear Principles are upheld.”
In a press conference held in the morning of the same day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano also commented on these issues. He said that New Komeito’s call for an amendment is “currently being discussed by the Diet Affairs Committee” and added that once the outcome of this discussion had become clear, the government intended to consider their response to the matter.
Hirano was also asked for his feelings on the fact that the very existence of the secret agreement had not been revealed to the Japanese people up until now. He expressed the opinion that there was great significance in the fact that the information had been disclosed as a result of the change of government, saying: “In effect [the agreement] was not revealed, but in the first few months following a change of government investigations took place and it has [now] been revealed.”
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