Japan, February 17: Japanese people have staged a street protest against the trans-Pacific free trade pact, which broadens relationships with the United States.
People from political left and right gave speeches and rallied in the streets on Wednesday, saying that the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is aimed at strengthening the US-Japan military alliance and has political purposes,
Japanese farmers have strongly criticized the pact, saying the TPP — which proposes a more liberalized trading system — exposes the country to international competition.
Farmers have claimed Japan is not yet prepared to face this competition on account of inefficient farming methods and an aging agricultural workforce.
However, Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s administration believes that the disputed pact will not only be beneficial to the national interest, but it will also be a positive boom for the country as a whole.
“Unless we come up with a more proactive free trade policy, it is very difficult for the Japanese economy to benefit from the growing trans-Pacific economic activities,” a spokesman for the prime minister’s said.
But Tomoko Kami from the House of Councilors said that “the main purpose of the TPP is to pave the way for broader US-Japan relations which the Japanese government has strongly denied.”
—-Agencies