Tetsuzo Fuwa, the central committee chair of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), vowed on September 4 at the Third International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) to honor the JCP's responsibility to promote a diplomacy of peace for Japan and oppose to all attempts to revise Article 9 of Japan's Constitution. The article provides for the renunciation of war and for the maintenance of no war potential.

He told the audience that his party is fully aware of the fact that many governments, parties and people in Asia hope that Japan will develop an independent peace diplomacy based on its position as an Asian country.

Fuwa pointed out that the foreign policy of the Japanese government does not live up to the expectations of the peoples of other Asian countries in many respects.

He said that the JCP considers it an important responsibility as an opposition party in the Japanese government to try to bring the nation's foreign policy in line with world trends toward peace.

The new JCP program, revised in January, outlines the party's desire to promote a diplomacy of peace.

The program suggests that Japan give emphasis to promoting friendships with Asian countries on the premise of expressing remorse for the history of its war of aggression and colonization.

The JCP program also holds that Japan should champion the international order of peace as established by the UN Charter and oppose any hegemonic attempts to violate or to destroy it.

The JCP believes that in order for Japan to contribute to peace in Asia and in the rest of the world, his party should thoroughly defend the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution. Fuwa stated that the JCP is opposed to all attempts to revise the Constitution.

Japan's Constitution, the foundation for the country's postwar political structure, clearly limits the nation's military capability to a domestically based self-defense force. More specifically, Article 9 states that Japan renounces the use of force as a means to settle international disputes.

However, Japan has several times violated its pacifist constitution. The recent activities of the government in this regard included the passage of the three "emergency" bills, which enable the state to counter armed attacks from foreign forces "as quickly as situations require," and its dispatch of Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to Iraq. These issues have caused serious concerns both at home and abroad.

Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (Liberal Democratic Party) reiterated his intention to continue his annual visits to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, despite strong opposition from Asian nations. The controversial shrine honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including 14 Class-A war criminals.

Fuwa indicated that throughout its 82-year history, the JCP has been consistent in supporting peace and renouncing war. During World War II and in the prewar period, the JCP opposed the war of aggression and colonial rule caused by Japanese militarism.

The theme of the current ICAPP -- the first hosted in China -- is "Exchange, Cooperation and Development." Delegates from more than 80 political parties and organizations from 34 Asian and neighboring countries are attending the conference. Regional security has been a primary focus of participants.

Initiated in 2000, the biennial ICAPP has previously been held in the Philippines, in September 2000, and in Thailand in November 2002.

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Chen Chao September 5, 2004)