2018-10-18
The following is an article published in this morning’s Sankei Shimbun in Rui Abiru’s column, “Kyokugen Gomen.”
It also proves that I was right in repeatedly describing Naoto Kan as the worst prime minister in history.
Mr. Sengoku, I Know It May Be Tactless, But…
Yoshito Sengoku, who served as Chief Cabinet Secretary in the Naoto Kan Cabinet and died on the 11th, was a man who attracted both praise and criticism, and whose remarks in particular frequently caused controversy.
He would say things that went without saying and provoke the other party, and insist that black was white.
He rarely admitted that he was wrong….
Such an attitude appeared to be arrogance itself.
However, something that strongly remains in my memory is how Constitutional Democratic Party leader Yukio Edano, who succeeded Mr. Sengoku, described him when Edano was Chief Cabinet Secretary.
“He is pure, you see….”
I do not know whether this implied that Edano himself was not like that and therefore behaved more shrewdly, but certainly Mr. Sengoku probably did have such a side to him.
Kenichi Matsumoto, a critic who had been Mr. Sengoku’s classmate at the University of Tokyo and who served as a special adviser to the Cabinet under the Kan administration, also told the Sankei Shimbun in 2010, “Sengoku is naive and shy.”
Mr. Sengoku himself once said, “I am actually a timid man.”
Perhaps that was why he had a tendency to make himself appear tough or to try to push things through by forceful argument.
Response to the Chinese Fishing Boat Collision
Even so, even if that were the case, regarding the September 2010 Chinese fishing boat collision near the Senkaku Islands off Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture, and the extralegal release of the Chinese captain, I wish he had reflected more honestly and clarified what had happened.
Hearing the following comment by Mr. Kan concerning Mr. Sengoku’s death made me feel this all the more strongly.
“There were moments when it could have developed into a military clash. It was thanks to Mr. Sengoku’s ability that the worst situation was avoided.”
However, a Foreign Ministry bureaucrat who knows the facts categorically states, “This statement is fundamentally wrong.”
Mr. Kan probably wanted to emphasize how serious the situation had been, but at the time China’s People’s Liberation Army had shown no movement whatsoever, and naturally the Japanese government had not even considered mobilizing the Self-Defense Forces.
The Release of the Captain That He Took Upon Himself
In this matter, both Mr. Kan and Mr. Sengoku continued for a long time to give false answers that the release had been the independent decision of the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office, but in 2013 Mr. Sengoku himself acknowledged that, acting on Mr. Kan’s wishes, he had urged the Justice Ministry and prosecutorial authorities to release the captain.
“Mr. Kan completely gave way under Chinese pressure and ordered the release, and Mr. Sengoku took all the responsibility upon himself and constructed a theoretical justification for releasing him while leaving the disposition of the case pending.”
A senior Foreign Ministry official testified to the author in this way at the time.
There was also an incident like this.
“What on earth is the Foreign Ministry doing? Solve the problem quickly. You have connections in China, don’t you?”
Mr. Kan, impatient to resolve the incident, gathered Mr. Sengoku and other relevant ministers and officials at the prime minister’s official residence on a holiday and continued hurling abuse at Foreign Ministry officials.
Unable to endure this any longer, the Foreign Ministry side responded.
“The Yukio Hatoyama Cabinet last year overrode the objections of the Foreign Ministry and the Imperial Household Agency, broke the ‘one-month rule,’ and forced His Majesty the Emperor to meet Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, now President, and that is why China believes it can take advantage of Japan.”
Mr. Kan reportedly remained silent for a while and then replied, “I do feel ashamed about that.”
But in the end, they placed responsibility on the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office, which of course was in no position to make diplomatic judgments, and chose to release the Chinese captain, a decision that would lead to further concessions to China.
Masaharu Isshiki, the former Japan Coast Guard officer who leaked onto the Internet the video of the fishing boat ramming the Japanese vessels that the Kan administration had hidden from the public, and who was branded a criminal by Mr. Sengoku, posted the following comment on the author’s Facebook page on the 16th.
“It is tactless to say this or that about the deceased Mr. Sengoku.”
I thought he was quite right, but I have written this knowing full well that it may be tactless.
(Editorial writer and political desk editorial committee member)