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On November 30, DPJ President, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda engaged in his first Prime Minister’s questions since becoming prime minister. He was involved in lively exchanges of opinion with the LDP’s President Sadakazu Tanigaki and Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi regarding comprehensive reform of tax and social security and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Regarding the comprehensive reform of tax and social security, Tanigaki and Yamaguchi pointed out that only discussions on the consumption tax seemed to be proceeding. In response, Noda said that conclusions on the state of the social security system would be compiled separately, and explained that the discussions over consumption tax were taking place from the need to consider how to secure a stable source of funding for social security. He once again stressed that strengthening social security functions and securing stable financial resources were both unavoidable, and said that he hoped to compile a draft proposal by the end of the year. To this end, Noda called for discussions to take place between the ruling and opposition parties in order to ensure that dealing with the issue will not be postponed. He also commented that persistent efforts would need to be made in administrative reform when carrying out comprehensive reform, and called for cooperation toward enacting legislation that would cut the wages of national civil servants by 7.8%.
With regard to the TPP, Tanigaki stressed that it was important to disclose information in the Diet and to debate the issues before the public. He cited Noda’s comment that he would make a final decision on the issue in line with national interest, and asked him what he considered to be “the national interest”. Noda explained once again that with the movement aiming for bilateral and multilateral economic partnerships accelerating around the world, and with various routes to the construction of a Free Trade Area of the Asian Pacific (FTAAP) such as ASEAN +3 (Japan, China and the Republic of Korea) and ASEAN +6 (Japan, China and the Republic of Korea, plus India, Australia and New Zealand) existing, the only one that is actually currently in progress is the TPP. He said that discussion of this matter had started under the Kan administration, and the result of repeated discussions had been that “Japan will enter into consultations toward participating in the TPP negotiations with the countries concerned.” Noda added, “We will provide sufficient information. We will provide information regarding what the countries concerned expect of Japan, and I would like to come to a conclusion based on the national interest following sufficient debate.” With regard to the “national interest”, he expressed the opinion that examples of this might be the creation of rules to eliminate the floods of imitations and pirate copies of products, which are said to have caused a total of one hundred and some billions of yen in lost revenue, and to reduce tariffs amounting to around 200 billion yen which are paid to countries with which Japan has not yet signed separate EPAs or FTAs, such as the United States, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, Noda emphasized that his basic stance when entering the TPP consultations would be to protect those things that need to be protected, such as agriculture, Japan’s traditional culture, beautiful rural communities and medical system, and to win those victories that need to be won.
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