Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato is seen during a news conference on Sept. 6, 2021. (Mainichi/Kan Takeuchi)

       TOKYO -- Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato reiterated the Japanese government's position on the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) after JCP Chairman Kazuo Shii announced that the party would no longer use an expression from a theory adopted by the party since the 1950s that its approach toward achieving a communist revolution "depends on the opponent's actions."

       "We understand that the (JCP's) policy of a violent revolution based on the party's theory (on how their approach would change depending on the opponent) has not shifted," Kato said during a news conference on Sept. 14. He added that the government has repeatedly made its position on the matter clear in Diet statements and official Cabinet responses to Diet questions, and maintained that Shii's comment would not alter the government's position in any way.

       In response to Kato's remarks, the JCP's Shii released a statement, saying, "To continue to attack our party at this point by misapplying the theory of changing our approach depending on the opponent's actions is spreading false information over false information, and we cannot tolerate it at all."

       Japan's Public Security Intelligence Agency posts its view on communism on its website, saying that it "adopts the so-called theory that whether its approach toward a revolution will be peaceful or non-peaceful depends on the opponent's actions," which has served as the basis of the government's position that the ideology does not deny the possibility of a violent revolution. JCP Chairman Shii announced on Sept. 8 that the party would not be using the expression as it could be used as propaganda against the party.

       In a related development, Tokyo Broadcasting System Television Inc. apologized on Sept. 13 over a comment made by a lawyer during his Sept. 10 appearance on a variety news program, in which he falsely said the JCP has not removed "violent revolution" from its basic policy outline.

       Lawyer Hideki Yashiro bowed his head in apology during the program that aired on Sept. 13. He said, "My understanding was based on the government's view which had been approved by the Cabinet. I should have added that the Japanese Communist Party has repeatedly denied (that view). I am sorry, and as a TV commentator, I will be more careful about accuracy and balance from now on and take responsibility over my words."

       (Japanese original by Akiko Kato, Political News Department, and Yuka Matsubara, Cultural News Department)

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