Wave of persection after Abe assassination: Communist-orchestrated attacks on Unification Church
In a reader’s post in the Washington Times 11th November 2022, the senior American politician Newt Gingrich says that the communist-orchestrated attacks on the Unification Church (Family Federation) after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on 8th July 2022, must be understood in the light of a “long-term communist strategy” to weaken the forces in Japan that oppose communism.
Gingrich points out that
“the far left has exploited this horrific crime by attempting to destroy Abe’s supporters in the Japanese Diet and eliminate the anti-Communist organization he supported.”
The organization he is referring to is the International Federation for Victory Over Communism (IFVOC), founded in 1968 in South Korea, and developed from the late 1960s also in Japan to become the leading anti-communist organization there.
Shinzo Abe distinguished himself as a strong opponent of communist ideology and rule. In the wake of Abe’s assassination, the Japanese Communist Party has relentlessly attacked the Abe wing of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and succeeded in greatly weakening it, much with the help of left-wing mass media.
Newt Gingrich writes:
“Amazingly, this deliberate effort to eliminate anti-communists and undermine the Japanese-American alliance was openly explained in the official newspaper of the Japanese Communist Party, Shimbun Akahata.
The paper interviewed Kazuo Shii, the chairman of the Japanese Communist Party, who described the history of effective anti-communism and pro-Americanism in Japan.
The interview makes clear how much the current attack on the Unification Church is part of a long-term communist strategy to weaken the pro-freedom and anti-communist forces in Japan.
‘From the Communist Party’s point of view, this is the final war against the Unification Church,’ the interviewer said.
‘It has been a long struggle,’ Mr. Shii agreed and added, ‘The first time they bared their fangs as the vanguard of the anti-communist movement was in the 1978 gubernatorial election to choose the successor to Torazo Ninagawa.’
As chairman of the Japanese Communist Party, Mr. Shii’s comments and assertions are openly political and brazenly hostile.
It is clear that the attack on the Unification Church is an attack on the LDP and especially on the Abe faction, which has been aggressively anti-communist and pro-American. […]
No one should be confused. The current attack on the Unification Church is an effort to undermine and weaken the Japanese-United States alliance and create an opening for a Chinese Communist-Japanese rapprochement.”
Featured image at the top: Newt Gingrich speaking at the Republican National Convention 20th July 2016. Photo: Ali Shaker / VOA / Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image. Cropped
“Amazingly, this deliberate effort to eliminate anti-communists and undermine the Japanese-American alliance was openly explained in the official newspaper of the Japanese Communist Party, Shimbun Akahata.
