Tokyo Games Should Be Canceled If Pandemic Worsens: LDP's Nikai

Tokyo, April 15 (Jiji Press)-- Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Thursday that canceling the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games should be considered as an option if the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen. "If we find it impossible to go forward, we should stop without hesitation," Nikai said in the recording of a satellite TV program. "Cancellation is unquestionably an option," he went on to say. "What would the Olympics be for if infections spread as a result of the games being held?" It is the first time that a ruling party executive has suggested the possibility of the Summer Games being called off. In a comment released later, Nikai said he is "eager to successfully hold" the Tokyo Games. But at the same time, he did not rule out the cancellation possibility, saying, "What I meant was that it's wrong to hold the games at any cost." In January, Nikai totally denied cancellation as an option. The about-face reflects increasing skepticism within the ruling coalition about holding the games amid the rise of more infectious coronavirus variants, critics noted. Nikai's cancellation remarks caused confusion in the administration of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, having a senior official at the prime minister's office contact a ranking LDP member to find out the real intention of the party heavyweight. Before departing for the United States to meet with President Joe Biden, Suga only told reporters that his administration's policy of taking every possible measure to prevent the infection for the successful holding of the games remains intact. Meanwhile, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike separately told journalists that she took the Nikai remarks "as a strong encouragement for us to contain the coronavirus." Seiko Hashimoto, head of the Tokyo Games organizing committee, pledged to work hard so that Nikai and the general public will be willing to give the go-ahead for the event. On the other hand, the opposition camp got momentum to criticize the Suga administration. Pointing out that many Japanese people advocate the games' cancellation or further postponement as shown by media polls, Jun Azumi, parliamentary affairs chief of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, insisted that the administration "begin listening to those voices in earnest." "We can no longer allow (the government) to blindly move forward with hosting the games," Kazuo Shii, leader of the Japanese Communist Party, said. "We demand that a cancellation decision be made as soon as possible." In a related development Thursday, administrative reform minister Taro Kono, who takes charge of rolling out coronavirus vaccines in the country, suggested in a TV program that the Tokyo Games may be held without spectators. END