 |
 |
2014/03/03
Kaieda holds press conference, criticizes PM Abe as “egocentric”
|
 |
|
|
On March 3, DPJ President Banri Kaieda held his regular press conference at party headquarters. At the start of the press conference he expressed his opinion about (1) remarks made by Prime Minister Abe’s during his speech in the Committee on Budget in the House of Councillors and (2) the current unfolding sitution between Russia and the Ukraine.
Kaieda criticised the Prime Minister’s remarks in the Committee on Budget in the House of Councillors, saying, “The various interpellators, who included DPJ Policy Research Committee Chair Sakurai, had asked searching questions regarding the problems currently confronting our nation, and issues regarding the budget for fiscal 2014. Unfortunately, however, Prime Minister Abe’s response, as always, followed on from that in the House of Representatives in being egocentric from first to last.” As one example of this Kaieda touched on comments by Sakurai, in which the latter stated that although the yen had fallen, business proprietors still had plans to move operations, in particular factory operations, overseas, and cited actual figures from Cabinet Office research regarding the proportions of manufacturing based overseas for companies surveyed (20.6% in fiscal 2012, 21.6% in fiscal 2013 and a projected 25.5% in fiscal 2018). In response, the Prime Minister made remarks such as “there must be something wrong with business proprietors who decide to move overseas when the tendency is toward a weak yen.” Regarding these comments, Kaieda stated, “Business owners are making every effort to survive. Markets and actual consumers are in various parts of Asia or the United States and so on, so it is only natural that they should build factories and engage in production as near to those regions as possible. I think this comment [of the Prime Minister’s] totally fails to grasp this.”
With regard to issues between Russia and the Ukraine, Kaieda commented, “I believe an extremely alarming situation is developing. In particular, the Paralympics are set to start on March 7 in Sochi. The Olympics and Paralympics are above all festivities celebrating peace. Russia, which is currently holding such a festival of peace, is engaging in this kind of behaviour in the Crimea. The other G8 nations, excluding Russia, are currently expressing grave concerns with regard to this, and we would also like to urge Russia not to act rashly.” Kaieda also stated, “The sovereign rights of independent nations should be respected.”
Kaieda was asked, in relation to the announcement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga that an investigative team regarding the Kono Statement would be established inside the administration, for the DPJ’s position on whether it was necessary to carry out investigations relating to the Kono Statement. He responded, “As a party, the DPJ does not take the position that the Kono Statement should be reviewed. We believe that Japan should continue to uphold the Statement.” Asked whether he thought that investigation of the process leading up to the Kono Statement was also unnecessary, he answered, “We believe that what happened in the past is in the past, and that we must create a future-orientated relationship between Japan and the Republic of Korea. Of course we have no intention of breaking with the position that Takeshima is an integral part of Japanese territory, but we believe that now is very much a time that calls for a future-orientated relationship between Japan and the Republic of Korea.” He added, “Our position is that we would like the ROK to also act on the basis of a future-orientated relationship.” Kaieda also commented, “It is a historical fact that our nation of Japan occupied Korea, and therefore, it is unthinkable that there should be moves to change the main historical facts. There are bound to be a variety of opinions regarding other issues apart from these, but we need to bite back such opinions, and overcome our differences to create a future-orientated relationship.”
|
|
|
| ▲このページのトップへ |
|
