Kazuo Shii
Chair, Executive Committee, Japanese Communist Party (JCP)
Kazuo Shii, 48, is the Japanese Communist Party’s Secretariat head. The JCP was founded in 1922 and is one of Japan’s largest opposition parties. The following is excerpted from his statements during the 7th Central Committee Plenum on September 18, 2000. The focal point of the struggle concerning the [Japanese] Constitution is its Article 9. Those who want to get the constitution revised are also bringing up issues of other provisions of the constitution, but obviously their true aim is to remove Article 9.They are advocating the removal of Article 9 in order to remove the obstacle to Japan’s full-scale…