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JCP, SDP chiefs to meet Wednesday on ways to stop Constitution change+
(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, March 20_(Kyodo) _ Japanese Communist Party chief Kazuo Shii and Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima plan to meet Wednesday to discuss how best to work together to fend off the Liberal Democratic Party's attempt to revise the war-renouncing Constitution, lawmakers of both parties said Monday.
The two leaders are expected to exchange views "in an easy manner" over dinner, Fukushima's aides said.
The meeting was arranged in response to a call by JCP secretariat chief Tadayoshi Ichida in January that the top leaders of the two opposition parties should meet and map out a joint strategy.
Prompted by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the LDP has put forward a draft of a revised Constitution that features a drastic rewrite of the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution, which was promulgated after Japan's defeat in World War II.
Both the SDP and the JCP want to keep Article 9 intact.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan has been split on the issue, with its president, Seiji Maehara, eager to revise the Constitution while former DPJ Vice President Takahiro Yokomichi, currently vice speaker of the lower house, opposes such a revision.
Fukushima, known for her pro-Article 9 stance, has held a series of meetings this month with Yokomichi and other DPJ members, who are cautions about the constitutional revision, as well as the leadership of the Japanese Trade Union Federation, a key supporter of the DPJ.
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