Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Administration took a step of unveiling a part of documents concerning the ministerial meetings between Japan and the United States on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal to the opposition Democratic Party (DP) on April 5, which had demanded the Government to publicize the documents.
Heavily blacked-out documents, unveiled by the Administration, concerning the ministerial meetings between Japan and the United States on the TPP free trade accord.
All of the revealed documents, however, are blacked out only except headings and dates of each page. They are not copies of the meetings’ papers, but are partly redacted ones.
The 45-page documents are briefing papers prepared for the Cabinet Office’s meetings, according to the Japanese Government’s TPP Headquarters at the Cabinet Secretariat Office. Most sentences of the documents have been blacked out, showing only how much information was presented at those meetings.
“From a viewpoint of diplomatic rules, the reveal of documents could be a breach of the duties of confidentiality and secrecy on the TPP negotiations. Copies of the documents were provided only to board members of the TPP Special Committee of the Lower House on the condition that the members should return the copies after the committee session,” an officer of the TPP Headquarters said.
DP’s lawmakers were so much amazed at such comment and said “Abe’s Administration is continuing to be fanatically secretive.” “Their handling of the documents really reflects the secrecy of the TPP free trade negotiations.”