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2014/01/31
Okada, Furukawa pose questions on diplomacy, economy
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On January 31, Katsuya Okada and Motohisa Furukawa represented the DPJ in the question and answer session relating to the supplementary budget for fiscal 2013, which took place in the Committee on Budget in the House of Representatives.
Okada asked questions relating to (1) the secret diplomatic agreements between Japan and the United States and the special secrets protection law, (2) historical perceptions and Japan’s relations with the United States and the Republic of Korea, (3) active pacifism and the collective right to self-defence, and (4) electoral reforms.
With regard to the issues of secret diplomatic agreements, Okada, showing a Japanese government document relating to the secret agreement between the Japanese and United States governments regarding allowing nuclear weapons into Japan, which he himself had investigated and announced when he served as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the DPJ administration, and commented, “There are differences of opinion between the Japanese and United States, but the conclusive proof is the fact that Prime Ministers from Prime Minister Sato to Prime Minister Kaifu have made explanations to the effect that there are circumstances beyond their control and so there is no alternative but to leave the issue untouched. I have no intention of making one-side criticisms, but it is significant that they made responses to the public which were clearly mistaken or lies, and in order to put a period to this matter I think the Cabinet should clearly state their opinion.” Okada pointed out, “Prime Minister Abe, in the deliberation regarding the special secrets law, stated: ‘If we have this law in place then a situation similar to that of the secret diplomatic agreements will not occur.’, but if there is the possibility of the Prime Minister making remarks contrary to the truth as happened before, then it will not prevent this.” The Prime Minister responded, “I would like to demonstrate where the government stands on this issue.”
Regarding issues relating to historical perceptions, Okada referred to the Prime Minister’s recent visit to Yasukuni Shrine, saying, “The root of the problem regarding Yasukuni is the interment of Class A war criminals and the perception of the past war revealed in the exhibits in the Yushukan.” He commented specifically regarding Class A criminals such as former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo who were sentenced to death by the Tokyo Tribunal: “Some people have the mistaken belief that the power to grant clemency and reduce sentences [as agreed in the San Francisco Peace Treaty] has acted as if to invalidate the sentences passed [by the Tribunal], but surely it is the case that sentencing has finished with the execution of the death sentence.” Prime Minister Abe responded, accepting that the execution of sentences on Class A war criminals who had received the death sentence represented finalization of their sentence.
Furukawa asked questions regarding: (1) the current and future state of the economy and how to realize a positive growth cycle, (2) Prime Minister’s Abe’s speech at the World Economic Forum and (3) the TPP and negotiations being carried out in parallel between Japan and the United States.
Regarding the state of the economy, Furukawa expressed doubts as to whether one could really judge that the economy had truly entered a positive growth cycle from looking at share prices, commenting, “It is true that the economic indicators such as share prices are trending upward, but in reality we face an extremely risky situation. Only foreign investors are buying shares, and Japanese institutional investors and individual investors are engaged in selling to the same degree. We need to carefully scrutinize the situation.”
Commenting on the fact that the trade deficit was the largest on record, Furukawa said, “Around the first half of last year, bureaucrats explained that the trade balance would first of all worsen but that as exports increased it would gradually improve, generating a J-curve effect, but what has actually happened is that exports have been decreasing since the autumn, and so it has been not a J curve but a down-turn curve.” He added, “Shouldn’t [the administration] be running the economy with the assumption that in fact Japan’s industrial structure is no longer one capable of generating a J-curve effect.”
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