Following criticism, DPJ revises platform
Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009
Following criticism, DPJ revises platform
Kyodo News
The Democratic Party of Japan unveiled on Tuesday a revised version of its campaign platform that includes a growth strategy centering on domestic demand, following criticism its original manifesto failed to address this and other issues.
The DPJ revised the platform plank on entering a free-trade agreement with the United States by dropping the word "conclusion" and adding the phrase "the promotion of negotiations" to avoid a backlash from domestic farmers.
Party policy chief Masayuki Naoshima said the DPJ recognizes that eventual conclusions of such agreements are "absolutely necessary" and will help boost the nation’s food self-sufficiency ratio.
"But our basic stance is to place greater importance on (domestic) farming," he said.
The revisions came after the ruling coalition led by the Liberal Democratic Party pounded the DPJ’s original platform.
To help couples who want children and to reverse the declining birthrate, the DPJ added language saying it plans to consider applying medical insurance to certain kinds of fertility treatment.
The party is now pledging to pursue economic growth by boosting domestic demand through an increase in disposable income — a departure from Japan’s long reliance on exports for growth.
Disposable household income would be increased by implementing the party’s major economic proposals, such as monthly child allowances and the scrapping of expressway tolls, the revised manifesto says.
A DPJ-led government would help domestic industry grow by promoting development of cutting-edge and environmental technologies, and would create jobs by expanding agriculture, health care and care for the elderly, the platform now says.
It says the DPJ seeks to promote liberalization of trade and investment by promoting negotiations on an FTA with the United States — not by concluding the accord as was originally proposed.
In so doing, the platform says, the party would ensure that food safety, the promotion of the domestic farm industry and boosting food self-sufficiency would not be compromised.
The LDP attacked the DPJ’s original platform, saying an FTA with the U.S. would hit the farm industry hard by leading to massive imports of food products.
The DPJ also revised its platform concerning the decentralization of power at the request of the National Governors’ Association. It now promises to install through legislation a consultative panel between the central and local governments.
The LDP-New Komeito coalition has criticized the DPJ’s moves to revise its platform as yet another example of flip-flops by the leading opposition party.
The DPJ says these revisions are not meant to change its policies but to describe more carefully the policies it has already put together.
