Shii on Obama inauguration

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on January 21 published the following comment on the inauguration of the new U.S. president:

We hope that Barack Obama's taking the office as the 44th president of the United States and the first African-American president, which is an historic event, will make it possible for U.S. society to exert its democratic dynamism.

The ongoing global economic crisis, the terrible state of affairs in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other major issues facing the United States are closely linked to the accumulation of misjudgments in U.S. policies that have given priority to the U.S. interests.

We will attentively look to the type of change President Obama might pursue in implementing domestic and foreign policies.

Regarding Japan-U.S. relations, we would like to draw the new U.S. administration's attention to the urgent need to replace the present relationship of domination and subservience with one based on equal rights.

Akahata, January 22, 2009