JCP Chair Shii statement on U.S. presidential election result

Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo on November 5 published the following statement on the election of Senator Barack Obama as the next U.S. president:

Democrat Barack Obama won the U.S. presidency in the election on November 4. He will become the first African American president of the United States. It is an historic event breaking through a major racial barrier in U.S. society. We hope that this will serve as a turning point for U.S. society to display its democratic vitality.

This election result reflects U.S. citizens’ strong criticism of the Republican Bush administration for its foreign policies, including the Iraq War and other hegemonic actions disregarding the United Nations, and the neo-liberal economic policies that increased poverty, widened social gaps, and caused the current financial crisis.

President-elect Obama has called for a change from the policies of President George Bush, proposing the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq in a set time frame, the abolition of nuclear weapons, and the strengthening of regulations of the financial market. On the other hand, Obama is calling for additional forces to be deployed to the war in Afghanistan and increase efforts to have U.S. allies cooperate with the U.S.-led war. We will pay attention to how the Obama administration intends to implement the promise of “change”.

In its quest for peace in Asia and the world in the 21st century, the Japanese Communist Party opposes all forms of hegemony and aims to help establish a peaceful international order based on the U.N Charter. The JCP will do its utmost to end Japan’s extraordinary subservience to the U.S. and establish an equal relationship between Japan and the United States along a path of neutrality and nonalignment. This is the position from which we will pay close attention to what the next U.S. administration, led by President Obama, will do in its policy towards Japan.

– Akahata, November 6, 2008