A group of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers dealing with agricultural trade issues adopted a resolution Friday urging the government to persuade China to retract its punitive import tariffs on Japanese products.
The resolution calls the Chinese action "extremely regrettable" and says it should be immediately retracted because it violates the trade agreement between the two countries.
The LDP group, headed by Shoichi Nakagawa, a Lower House member, adopted the resolution following China's announcement Thursday of 100 percent tariffs on Japanese automobiles, mobile phones and air conditioners, effective Friday. The move came in retaliation to Japan's emergency import restrictions on stone leeks, shiitake and tatami straw, imposed in April.
At a news conference following the group's meeting, Nakagawa said that while Japan's import curbs are based on legitimate rules, China considers it permissible to do "whatever it wants" for the sake of retaliation.
Tokyo's import curbs were imposed under the World Trade Organization's safeguard mechanism, designed to slow imports to allow a specific industry to adjust to heightened competition from foreign suppliers.
Nakagawa said Tokyo should make "all efforts," including dispatching a mission to China, to have Beijing retract the retaliatory action.
During their meeting, many group members said Japan should not buckle to China and should impose similar curbs on green pepper and tomato imports.