Nov 26 10:41 AM US/EasternTOKYO, Nov. 26 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Monday he will consider using Diet subcommittees to hold policy consultations between ruling and opposition parties in an effort to seek a breakthrough in the political deadlock.
His remarks at the House of Councillors plenary session came after the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan's president, Ichiro Ozawa, insisted during talks with Fukuda on Thursday that the ruling bloc and the DPJ hold discussions at the Diet to reach a conclusion on security and pension issues instead of setting up a proposed policy consultation framework.
On Fukuda's idea to set up subcommittees, the DPJ said it cannot "refuse from the beginning because it is a formal Diet body."
But it is uncertain whether Fukuda's idea will be successful, given that some DPJ members are expressing opposition.
A senior member in charge of the DPJ's Diet affairs said Fukuda's idea is unacceptable if he is hoping to advance deliberations on the controversial bill to resume Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean by taking advantage of the fact that subcommittees can be held any day.
At Monday's plenary session, Fukuda expressed concern over the current political stalemate, saying, "Many bills are difficult to enact and if the situation continues it will have a negative effect on people's lives."
He also stressed that it is the responsibility of both the ruling and opposition parties to "realize policies for the state and the people."
"We need to create some kind of framework, including making use of subcommittees," Fukuda said.
By setting up subcommittees under committees of the House of Representatives and the upper house, Fukuda apparently aims to promote policy talks between the ruling and opposition parties.
On Thursday, Fukuda, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, held separate talks with Ozawa and leaders of other parties.
In the talks with Ozawa, Fukuda proposed creating a consultation body for ruling and opposition parties on security issues. He also proposed setting up a "national assembly" consisting of lawmakers as well as representatives from various fields to deal with pension and social security issues.
But Ozawa refused the offers. "I said we cannot accept an offer to create a consultative body with certain parties...Our policy is to make efforts to reach a conclusion by discussing with parties at the Diet," Ozawa told reporters after the talks.
Fukuda is struggling to pass the bill to resume the refueling mission for U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan.
But the DPJ-led opposition parties, which control the upper house, are staunchly against the bill.
When a bill is submitted to the Diet, it is usually examined at a committee. Setting up a subcommittee is considered when the committee has too many bills to deal with and securing time for the deliberation of the bill becomes difficult.
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