Failure in Implementing Resolution

Newspapers reported on Tuesday that tariff on about thirty percent of all imported agricultural products will be abolished with the overwhelming agreement of Trans-Pacific Partnership. While both Houses of National Diet passed resolutions to protect five important agricultural products, Shinzo Abe administration still insists on pretending to be implemented them. Not only in security issues, they firmly believe people’s followership to top-down type of authoritarianism.

According to the reports, agricultural tariff will be abolished in 174 items out of all 586 in five categories that were recognized as crucially important. The items included crab pilaf, pasta, beef tongue, beef jerky or frozen yogurt. In all agricultural products, tariff on 1885 out of 2328 items will be abolished, occupying 81% of the all. Only 19% of tariff will be remained as the result of negotiation.

Japanese government tries to persuade the public that the negotiation was successful, insisting on the nature of TPP that was to completely abolish all tariffs. Comparing to other TPP members like Canada with 5.9%, Mexico with 3.6%, Peru with 4% or United States with 1.2%, Japan’s 19% of remaining tariff should be prominently high. Other parties secured nearly 0% of all tariffs. Abe administration keeps on announcing that the result will not affect Japanese agriculture so much.

Nevertheless, the result obviously violates the resolutions of the Diet, by which Abe administration promised to abide at the time of joining TPP negotiation two years ago. The first requirement of the resolution passed by the Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of House of Representatives on April 19^th in 2013 read as follows: Rice, wheat, beef, pork, milk products, sweetening resource products and other sensitive agricultural, forestry and fisheries products should be exempt or taken for re-negotiation to that they can continue to be reproduced. No approval should be given even to gradual elimination of tariffs beyond ten years.

In light of TPP principle for high-level free trade framework, joining negotiation and implementing Diet resolution could not stand together. Knowing that, Abe administration rejected informing Japanese people that contradiction. Innocent agricultural producers expected the government to maintain tariffs to protect their business, not preparing for coming great competition. Abe administration too easily sacrificed agriculture to encourage industrial exporters. This shrink in policy making can also seen in security policy relying too much on one specific side as in the time of Cold War.