川口氏訪中 委員長の「解任」は行き過ぎだ

The Yomiuri Shimbun May 10, 2013
Demanding dismissal of Kawaguchi over China trip is going too far
川口氏訪中　委員長の「解任」は行き過ぎだ（5月9日付・読売社説）

Is this a matter really worth demanding the dismissal of the chairwoman of a House of Councillors standing committee? We doubt the appropriateness of this abrupt demand.
　いきなり参院常任委員長の解任を求めるほどのことなのか。

On Wednesday, the Democratic Party of Japan and six other opposition parties jointly submitted to the upper house a resolution demanding the removal of Yoriko Kawaguchi as chairwoman of the chamber's Environment Committee.
　民主党など参院の野党７党は、自民党の川口順子環境委員長の解任決議案を参院に共同提出した。

The opposition parties blamed Kawaguchi, a Liberal Democratic Party member, for extending her trip to China by one day without obtaining approval from opposition parties, resulting in the adjournment of an Environment Committee meeting.
"It's impossible to overlook her act, as it's tantamount to abdicating her duty as chairwoman," the opposition parties said.
　中国への出張を許可なく１日延長した結果、環境委員会が流会となったことを問題視し、「委員長としての職責を自ら放棄したも同然で、断じて容認できない」と指摘している。

The resolution will be put to a vote Thursday, and is likely to be adopted as opposition parties hold a majority in the chamber. If adopted, it will be the first case in Japan's constitutional history of such a resolution being passed against the leader of a standing Diet committee.
　９日の参院本会議で採決され、野党の賛成多数で可決される公算だ。常任委員長に対する解任決議案の可決は憲政史上初となる。

Reason for extension

Initially, Kawaguchi was scheduled to stay in China on April 23 and 24, and the main purpose of the trip was to attend a meeting of former foreign ministers of Asian countries. However, after arriving in China, a meeting with Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi, a vice prime minister-level official, was set for April 25. Kawaguchi extended her trip to take the meeting.
　川口氏は、４月２３日から２日間の予定で訪中した。アジア各国の元外相らの会合などに参加するのが目的だったが、渡航後、副首相級の楊潔チ国務委員との会談が２５日に設定された。このため、帰国を１日延ばして会談に臨んだ。

There is an agreement between ruling and opposition parties to ask leaders of Diet standing committees to refrain from going abroad when the Diet is in session. Kawaguchi had to obtain approval from the executive board of the upper house's Rules and Administration Committee for her two-day trip to China.
　参院には、国会開会中、常任委員長などに海外渡航自粛を求める与野党合意がある。２日間の訪中についても、議院運営委員会理事会の事前了承が必要だった。

Despite failing to obtain approval from opposition parties to extend her trip, Kawaguchi decided to stay for the additional day. It is clear she broke a rule. Opposition parties have also questioned the effectiveness of the meeting, saying it was meaningless for her to meet with a key Chinese official, as Kawaguchi is not in charge of diplomatic policy.
　川口氏は、１日延長については野党の了承を得られないまま、強行した。ルール違反であることは確かだ。野党側には、政府の外交責任者でもない川口氏が中国要人と会談して何の役に立つのか、といった批判もある。

However, due to confrontations between Japan and China over the Senkaku Islands, exchanges and direct communications between the two nations' key government officials have almost completely stopped. We believe a meeting with Yang, who presides over China's diplomacy under the regime of President Xi Jinping, was meaningful to some degree.
　だが、尖閣諸島をめぐる日中対立により、両国間の要人往来や直接対話はほぼ途絶えている。習近平新体制で外交全般を統括する楊氏との会談には、一定の意義があっただろう。

After apologizing, Kawaguchi said, "I couldn't turn my back on an opportunity that could serve national interests, which include protecting our sovereignty and land."
　川口氏は陳謝した上で、「主権と領土を守る国益に背中を向けられなかった」と釈明している。

We believe opposition parties should have accepted Kawaguchi's apology, instead of adopting the heavy-handed approach of demanding her dismissal. If Kawaguchi had committed a mistake over an important bill, for example, demanding her dismissal would be understandable. This is not the case and the opposition parties have apparently overstepped.
　野党側は解任決議という“強権発動”ではなく、陳謝を受け入れるべきではなかったか。重要法案に関する不手際でもないのに解任とは行き過ぎだろう。

Opposition's motives

Under upper house rules, it is possible to appoint a standing committee member to act as a proxy. It was possible for the Environment Committee to host their meeting on April 25 under a proxy.
　参議院規則では、委員長の代理を立てることが認められている。２５日の委員会は、代理による議事運営も可能だったはずだ。

We assume opposition parties intend to reinforce their confrontational approach against the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of this summer's upper house election. Some DPJ members said they expect this incident to become a foothold toward setting up a common front between opposition parties. However, voters are unlikely to be impressed with the opposition parties' tactics.
　野党側は、夏の参院選に向けて、安倍政権との対決姿勢を強めたいのだろう。民主党には、野党共闘構築の足がかりになるという声もある。だが、こんな国会対応では有権者の共感は得られまい。

In protest of the opposition's resolution, the LDP and New Komeito boycotted an intense deliberation of an upper house Budget Committee meeting on Wednesday. It is unusual for ruling parties to skip budget deliberations--and quite irresponsible as well.
　自民、公明両党は、野党の解任決議案提出に反発し、８日の参院予算委の集中審議を欠席した。予算審議での与党欠席は極めて異例であり、無責任だ。

Instead of focusing on attacking each other's missteps, both ruling and opposition parties should rather focus on competing fairly with their policies.
　与野党は、相手の揚げ足取りばかりでなく、政策論争で正面から勝負すべきである。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 9, 2013)
（2013年5月9日01時28分 読売新聞）