On February 21, the Chair of the DPJ General Research Committee on Economic Partnerships and Agricultural Revitalisation, Koichiro Gemba, issued the following statement.

1.The TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty) Ministerial Meeting will be held in the near future in Singapore, from February 22 to 25.

2.In recent discussions held on February 15, between Minister in charge of TPP issues Akira Amari and United States Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman, in addition to agreeing to cooperate toward concluding the TPP negotiations, the two sides also agreed on the importance of narrowing the gap between the two countries’ positions on eliminating agricultural tariffs, as well as stating that they would remain mindful to the differences in their positions which still exist regarding the automobile sector. It is clear that with Amari failing to extract sufficient concessions on the automobile sector, something that Japan should be pursuing aggressively, there is a danger that he will be forced to gradually give ground on agriculture.

3.If Japan has failed to take the initiative in those sectors where it should go on the offensive, and has been confined to playing its last card of defending those sectors it wants to protect, that is an extremely pitiful negotiating position. With the government failing to obtain sufficient results in sectors such as the automobile sector where Japan should go on the offensive, it would be unforgiveable should different conclusions be reached to the resolution passed by the Committees on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in both Houses of the Diet. When engaging in the negotiations, we strongly urge the government to achieve results that sufficiently protect Japan’s national interest, while adhering to the Diet resolution which stated that Japan would not hesitate to withdraw from the negotiations if it is judged that the sacred ground of the five important agricultural products cannot be protected.

4.Despite the fact that the DPJ has been continuing to call for the disclosure of information to the Japanese people and the Diet, still, at present the provision of information cannot possibly be described as adequate. This does not satisfy the Diet resolution that called for the speedy and adequate provision of information and a broad national debate, and is totally deplorable. We once more strongly urge the government to carry out adequate information disclosure from now on in the spirit of the Diet resolution.