Opposition parties slam Senkaku collision video leak

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The opposition bloc on Friday lashed out at the government about the leak via the Internet of the video footage believed to show the collision of a Chinese trawler and Japanese patrol ships near the disputed Senkaku Islands in September.

Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Nobuteru Ishihara suggested his party will submit a motion of censure against Transport Minister Sumio Mabuchi and Justice Minister Minoru Yanagida in the House of Councillors if members of the government are responsible for the leak.

"The two ministers deserve to be fired...if government workers leaked the video," Ishihara told reporters.

He also said, "This is a matter of national interest, so I don't know what will happen to the deliberations on the fiscal 2010 supplementary budget plan," hinting that the LDP may obstruct the budget debate if the government does not comply with his demand for full disclosure of the video.

An edited version of a video lasting less than seven minutes was shown to some 30 parliamentarians on Monday.

Commenting on the leak, New Komeito party Secretary General Yoshihisa Inoue told a press conference, "At issue is political governance, so the government's responsibility is extremely grave."

Yoshimi Watanabe, leader of Your Party, said, "The secretive tendency of the government that insisted on partial disclosure of the video has backfired. (The leak) indicates that Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government is imploding."

Social Democratic Party's Secretary General Yasumasa Shigeno reacted by saying, "This is not a laughing matter."

Senior lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan were also dismayed.

DPJ Diet affairs chief Yoshio Hachiro and Hiroshi Nakai, head of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, told Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Motohisa Furukawa that the government should do its best to get to the bottom of the leak.

"It is quite deplorable if the video was indeed leaked. The government should investigate how this happened," Hachiro told reporters.

"I earnestly hope that the government will give a full explanation on the matter when the budget committee meets from Monday, so that the debate on the extra budget plan would not be negatively affected," said Nakai.

Taizo Mikazuki, another DPJ official in charge of Diet matters, said both the ruling and opposition parties should question the government about the video. But he sounded hesitant about full disclosure. "The issue should be discussed separately from the leak," he said.

(Mainichi Japan) November 5, 2010