Tokyo, Nov. 4 (Jiji Press)–Japanese opposition parties are stepping up their criticisms of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for her absence from an online summit of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations held in early October. The opposition side is frustrated at vague explanations given by Takaichi, also president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and by the Foreign Ministry over the matter. Some suspect that Takaichi skipped the G7 talks because she attended a dinner meeting with LDP Vice President Taro Aso and other party executives held at her official residence just before the online session among the G7 members–Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union. Opposition parties apparently hope to use this as a new tool to grill the Takaichi administration, after the resignation of scandal-hit Kazuo Yana from the post of agriculture minister last month. Yana was effectively dismissed due partly to his inappropriate remarks. “There are inconsistencies between parliamentary remarks by the prime minister and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. Which is correct? ” Kiyomi Tsujimoto of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan said at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Senate, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, on Oct. 27. The online G7 summit was organized mainly by France, this year’s G7 chair, after U.S. President Donald Trump pressed European countries to release their gas oil reserves. The meeting was held from 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 2 Japan time. From Japan, Kazuya Endo, senior deputy minister for foreign affairs, attended the meeting on behalf of Takaichi. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham was also absent. Asked by Tsujimoto at a Senate Budget Committee meeting Oct. 16, Takaichi said she was told by the Foreign Ministry that there would be no problem if a deputy attended the online meeting on her behalf because the agenda issue concerned the United States and Europe. Takaichi suggested that preparation was another reason for her absence, saying: “A large display would be used for the online summit, and we had to have a technician come to connect the line. But time ran out.” Meanwhile, Motegi told the Senate Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that a deputy was picked to attend the G7 meeting because only one opportunity would likely be given to speak for only a few minutes. Motegi declined to comment on the display issue, saying, “I am not aware of a problem at the prime minister’s office.” Tsujimoto also grilled Takaichi over her dinner meeting with the LDP executives held right before the G7 summit. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yusuke Nakanishi said that he is not aware if the prime minister drank at the dinner meeting. But a participant at the meeting told reporters that Takaichi, like other participants, drank alcohol. Tsujimoto alleged that the dinner meeting was the reason for Takaichi’s failure to take part in the G7 session. Still, Motegi categorically denied the claim. The opposition side slammed the attitudes of Takaichi and Motegi. “I feel anger,” Komeito chief Mitsunari Okamoto said. “They should give adequate explanations,” Japanese Communist Party leader Tomoko Tamura said. An LDP heavyweight said, “We will be pressed further.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
