JCP publishes statement on 63rd anniversary of WWII's end

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi published the following statement on the 63^rd anniversary of Japan's surrender to the Allies on August 15.

As we observe the 63rd anniversary of the end of World War II on August 15, the Japanese Communist Party mourns for all victims of Japanese militarism that waged wars of aggression and placed many Asian countries under its colonial rule.

Militarist Japan invaded foreign countries with the aim of expanding its territory and grabbing natural resources. Its reckless and lawless military action took the lives of 20 million other Asian people and 3.1 million Japanese people.

After the war, the Japanese people resolved not to repeat the same mistake. Japan was accepted by the international community again after it established the world's first constitution to renounce war as a means of settling international disputes, prohibited the use of force or threat of force, and denied the country the right of belligerency.

Regional communities of countries for peace are powerfully developing in many parts of the world, as represented by the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) that established fundamental principles including "mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity of all nations"; "non-interference in the internal affairs of one another;" and "settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful means." In dealing with territorial and other various regional disputes, the main currents in the world today is to make efforts to resolve them peacefully through steady negotiations.

The U.S. aggression against Iraq and its military intervention in Afghanistan are in stark contrast with trends for peace. The countless casualties in these wars, the enormous war budget, and the endless acts of terrorism are proof of the failure of the U.S. policy of strength.

Under these circumstances, the Japanese government is reluctant to develop a diplomatic strategy based on the Constitution. It instead is subservient to the United States in deploying Self-Defense Force units abroad. What is more, it is even intent on increasing its military cooperation with the United States by establishing a permanent law that allows Japan to send troops abroad any time. These responses of the Japanese government go not only against the Japanese resolution at the start of a new era after World War, but also against main world trends for peace and tramples on the wishes for peace that victims of Japanese militarism might have.

The Japanese Communist Party is determined to make every effort to contribute to world peace in line with Japanese constitutional principles for peace and democracy.

- Akahata, August 15, 2008