OPINION:
After former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s tragic assassination on July 8, the far left has exploited this horrific crime by attempting to destroy Abe’s supporters in the Japanese Diet and eliminate the anti-Communist organization he supported.
It is particularly ironic that Prime Minister Abe’s death has become an excuse to attack his allies and his wing of the governing party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). After all, Abe was the most pro-American and openly anti-Chinese Communist Party prime minister in Japanese history.
The Japanese Communist Party’s assaults on the Abe wing of the LDP and the work of the Unification Church are remarkably blatant attacks on everything Abe worked for throughout his life as a political and governmental leader.
Amazingly, this deliberate effort to eliminate anti-communists and undermine the Japanese-American alliance was openly explained in the official newspaper of the Japanese Communist Party, Shimbun Akahata.
The paper interviewed Kazuo Shii, the chairman of the Japanese Communist Party, who described the history of effective anti-communism and pro-Americanism in Japan.
The interview makes clear how much the current attack on the Unification Church is part of a long-term communist strategy to weaken the pro-freedom and anti-communist forces in Japan.
“From the Communist Party’s point of view, this is the final war against the Unification Church,” the interviewer said.
“It has been a long struggle,” Mr. Shii agreed and added, “The first time they bared their fangs as the vanguard of the anti-communist movement was in the 1978 gubernatorial election to choose the successor to Torazo Ninagawa.”
As chairman of the Japanese Communist Party, Mr. Shii’s comments and assertions are openly political and brazenly hostile.
It is clear that the attack on the Unification Church is an attack on the LDP and especially on the Abe faction, which has been aggressively anti-communist and pro-American.
Mr. Shii said openly: “The starting point [with LDP] was the Shogyo Rengo, an anti-communist organization that was united with the Unification Church. Since then, there has been a half-century of historical collusion between the two organizations.”
He emphasized that “the essence of the problem is that the two parties are inextricably linked.”
The anti-American component of this attack is made remarkably clear in Mr. Shii’s comments.
As written in the article, “Mr. Shii pointed out that strengthening the deterrence of the Japan-U.S. alliance, the Quad (the security framework of the four countries of Japan, the U.S., Australia, and India), and other frameworks to encircle or eliminate China would lead to a vicious cycle of military to military.”
Mr. Shii asserted, “We should have a concept of creating a framework that includes China and resolve all issues peacefully.”
No one should be confused. The current attack on the Unification Church is an effort to undermine and weaken the Japanese-United States alliance and create an opening for a Chinese Communist-Japanese rapprochement.
• For more commentary from Newt, visit Gingrich360.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.