News Tanaka criticizes Koizumi for 'blunder'

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Former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said on Feb. 20 that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has become an anti-reformer and joined the ranks of those he has pledged to fight.

Tanaka, who also said Koizumi "blundered" in firing her in January, was giving unsworn testimony before the Lower House Budget Committee regarding the political dispute that led to her dismissal.

"The prime minister let both (me and former Vice Foreign Minister Yoshiji Nogami) ruin each other, and that decision was a blunder," she said

The dispute was over whether Muneo Suzuki, a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, pressured ministry bureaucrats to exclude two non-governmental organizations from the Afghan aid conference held in January in Tokyo.

Koizumi sacked both Tanaka and Nogami on Jan. 29 as they openly disagreed in the Diet about whether Suzuki applied pressure

Suzuki, who also testified Feb. 20, denied being involved in the affair.

Suzuki also acknowledged that he is an "old-style" politician who speaks in a loud and high-pitched voice when he gets excited but added that his way of talking is not meant to intimidate.

田中外相、小泉首相を批判

衆院予算委員会で、田中真紀子・前外相が、更迭されたことについて小泉純一郎首相を批判した。

Shukan ST: March 1, 2002

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