The 208th ordinary session of the Diet has begun. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio delivered his policy speech. The session’s most important issue is to compile a budget for fiscal 2022, incorporating critical debates on the acquisition of Japan’s military capabilities to attack enemy bases and fortification of the Southwest Islands (=Nansei Islands) as well as discussions chaired by the Deliberative Councils on the Constitution.
DIGITALIZATION AND MILITARIZATION OF THE COUNTRY WERE FOCUED ON
The speech given by the premier did not differ from what he addressed during the extraordinary session of the Diet last autumn: he repeated ‘growth under the new form of capitalism’ and stressed his poor ‘fair distribution’ measures.
A very small amount of ‘distribution’
Comparing his ‘growth’ strategies, such as ‘the plan to build up a nation of digital garden cities’, whose budget counts 4.4 trillion yen, and ‘using the My-Number Card, or the Social Security and Tax Number System, as a passport in the digitalized society, with his ‘fair distribution’ policy, the former is enthusiastically motivated, while the latter is left shabby. The latter includes ‘a tax deduction policy to business entities that raise wages for employees’, which is estranged from deficit-ridden companies, and a very tiny ‘revision of public prices’ for workers in the fields of elderly-care, nursing and child education.
As for policies to cope with the COVID-19, he praised himself, boasting of ‘the most stringent border control of the G7 nations’, while he did not review sincerely the absence of resolution for the rapid expansion of COVID-19 infection on account of the US military bases inside the country. He emphasized to arrange a system in which patients remain at home safely for medical treatment.
Concerning national security and diplomacy, he talked indirectly at the moment, until the scheduled Upper House election in July, in order not to provoke a sense of crisis. Though he spent a short time on the matters, he made a belligerent remark. Under the item of the Growth Strategy, he declared to present a bill for economic security as the major pillar of the new form of capitalism. The bill is to restrain trade with China, which business people worry about.
In the recent bilateral meeting with the leaders of Australia, the government of Japan ‘signed the Reciprocal Access Agreement to enhance security cooperation’. The accord is almost the same as the Status of Force Agreement, which represents a military alliance between the two. It needs ratification, which the opposition parties should object.
Concerning ‘enemy base attack capability’, Premier Kishida referred, too, in his speech in the extraordinary session last year and now he precisely told ‘the government will strengthen defense capabilities with a sense of speed, combining the supplementary budget with the 2022 plan’.
If the budget sums are added together, the total is the largest, 6.2 trillion yen, which is a point to be criticized and accused, too, by the opposition.
Coast Guards and Self Defense Forces (SDF) cooperate
Prime Minister confidently declared that ‘the government will bolster maritime safety by combining the Japan Coast Guards and the Maritime SDF to strengthen readiness in the Nansei Islands’. It is for the first time that Premier referred to the area in a concrete way. The mention probably comes from the 2+2 talk with the United States held earlier in January.
For amending the Constitution, the premier expressed his wish that zealous debates should be made during the current Diet session. We, from the people’s side, must watch closely a fact that the ruling parties, the Ishin and the Kokumin-Minshu demand weekly venue of the Deliberative Councils on the Constitution and ‘provisions to be amended’.
In addition, Premier Kishida referred to ‘sources of electricity’ in the context of climate change; he showed a stance in favor of ‘innovative nuclear power and nuclear fusion’ in realizing decarbonization. He braced small-sized nuclear power generators, which means development of a new type of nuclear power generation and revitalization of the industry.
首相演説は「新しい資本主義の下での成長」への饒舌と貧弱な「分配」が中心で、昨年の臨時国会での所信表明演説と大差ない。
雀の涙の｢分配｣
４・４兆円投入の「デジタル田園都市国家構想」、マイナンバーカードをデジタル社会の「パスポート」とするなど盛りだくさんの「成長」戦略に比べ、「分配」は赤字企業には無縁の「賃上げ企業の税額控除」と、介護・保育・幼児教育関係の雀の涙の「価格改定」でしかない。
新型コロナ対策では「Ｇ７では最も厳しい水準の水際対策」を自賛、在日米軍基地由来の感染拡大への無策については全く反省なし。「在宅医療体制」整備をしきりと強調した。
安保・外交分野への言及は参院選まではきな臭い方針は遠回しな表現で、配分時間は短いものの、一歩踏み込んだ。「成長戦略」の項で、「新しい資本主義の重要な柱」として「経済安全保障」法案提出を明言した。中国との経済関係を規制する法案で経済界も危惧している。
先日の日豪首脳会談で、「円滑化協定に署名し安全保障協力を強化」した。これは「日米地位協定」に準ずるもので、日豪の軍事同盟への布石。批准承認が求められるが、立憲野党は反対すべきだ。
「敵基地攻撃能力の保有」は臨時国会の演説から口にし始めたが、今回はそれに続けて「補正予算と来年度予算を含めスピード感を持って防衛力を抜本的に強化」すると述べた。
両予算合計で過去最大の６兆２千億円となったが、これも立憲野党が批判・追及すべき課題だ。
海保と自衛隊で
また、「海上保安庁と自衛隊の連携を含め、海上保安体制を強化するとともに、島嶼防衛力向上…南西諸島への備えを強化」と踏み込んだ。「南西諸島」に言及したのは初めてで、１月の日米「２プラス２」を踏まえてのことと思われる。
憲法改定について、「本国会においても積極的な議論が行われることを期待する」とした。与党と維新、国民民主が求める憲法審査会の毎週開催と、「改憲項目」の議論への踏み込みが大きな焦点だ。
なお、「気候変動」対策で「革新原子力、核融合など脱炭素電源」に言及したが、小型原子炉など新型原発開発・原発再生の姿勢を示した。
英訳版↓
No. 1243 Prime Minister’s Policy Speech
The 208th ordinary session of the Diet has begun. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio delivered his policy speech. The session’s most important issue is to compile a budget for fiscal 2022, incorporating critical debates on the acquisition of Japan’s military capabilities to attack enemy bases and fortification of the Southwest Islands (=Nansei Islands) as well as discussions chaired by the Deliberative Councils on the Constitution.
DIGITALIZATION AND MILITARIZATION OF THE COUNTRY WERE FOCUED ON
The speech given by the premier did not differ from what he addressed during the extraordinary session of the Diet last autumn: he repeated ‘growth under the new form of capitalism’ and stressed his poor ‘fair distribution’ measures.
A very small amount of ‘distribution’
Comparing his ‘growth’ strategies, such as ‘the plan to build up a nation of digital garden cities’, whose budget counts 4.4 trillion yen, and ‘using the My-Number Card, or the Social Security and Tax Number System, as a passport in the digitalized society, with his ‘fair distribution’ policy, the former is enthusiastically motivated, while the latter is left shabby. The latter includes ‘a tax deduction policy to business entities that raise wages for employees’, which is estranged from deficit-ridden companies, and a very tiny ‘revision of public prices’ for workers in the fields of elderly-care, nursing and child education.
As for policies to cope with the COVID-19, he praised himself, boasting of ‘the most stringent border control of the G7 nations’, while he did not review sincerely the absence of resolution for the rapid expansion of COVID-19 infection on account of the US military bases inside the country. He emphasized to arrange a system in which patients remain at home safely for medical treatment.
Concerning national security and diplomacy, he talked indirectly at the moment, until the scheduled Upper House election in July, in order not to provoke a sense of crisis. Though he spent a short time on the matters, he made a belligerent remark. Under the item of the Growth Strategy, he declared to present a bill for economic security as the major pillar of the new form of capitalism. The bill is to restrain trade with China, which business people worry about.
In the recent bilateral meeting with the leaders of Australia, the government of Japan ‘signed the Reciprocal Access Agreement to enhance security cooperation’. The accord is almost the same as the Status of Force Agreement, which represents a military alliance between the two. It needs ratification, which the opposition parties should object.
Concerning ‘enemy base attack capability’, Premier Kishida referred, too, in his speech in the extraordinary session last year and now he precisely told ‘the government will strengthen defense capabilities with a sense of speed, combining the supplementary budget with the 2022 plan’.
If the budget sums are added together, the total is the largest, 6.2 trillion yen, which is a point to be criticized and accused, too, by the opposition.
Coast Guards and Self Defense Forces (SDF) cooperate
Prime Minister confidently declared that ‘the government will bolster maritime safety by combining the Japan Coast Guards and the Maritime SDF to strengthen readiness in the Nansei Islands’. It is for the first time that Premier referred to the area in a concrete way. The mention probably comes from the 2+2 talk with the United States held earlier in January.
For amending the Constitution, the premier expressed his wish that zealous debates should be made during the current Diet session. We, from the people’s side, must watch closely a fact that the ruling parties, the Ishin and the Kokumin-Minshu demand weekly venue of the Deliberative Councils on the Constitution and ‘provisions to be amended’.
In addition, Premier Kishida referred to ‘sources of electricity’ in the context of climate change; he showed a stance in favor of ‘innovative nuclear power and nuclear fusion’ in realizing decarbonization. He braced small-sized nuclear power generators, which means development of a new type of nuclear power generation and revitalization of the industry.
January 26, 2022