JAPAN: Wartime Past Haunts U.N. Security Council Bid (1) An Inter Press Service Feature

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Nov 16 1994 (IPS) - Japan is determined to become a permanent member of the powerful U.N. Security Council by next year, but its wartime past continues to cast a dark shadow on its ambitions to become a global political leader.

Almost half a century after surrendering to Allied Forces at the end of the Pacific War, Tokyo is finding out that it has yet to win the world’s full trust.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono had formally announced his country’s intention to seek a permanent seat at the prestigious Council in September, arguing that Japan has financial resources and other capabilities to contribute to a wide range of U.N. duties.

Japan, which wants to clinch the seat in time for the United Nations’ 50th anniversary next year, has even indicated its willingness to increase its contributions to the world body’s coffers if it succeeds in its goal.

Japan’s share of the U.N. budget is already 13 percent, making it the second largest source of funds in the world organisation of 184 members.

But while the United States and co-Council permanent members France and Britain have said they would back Tokyo’s bid, other nations have been slow in their promise of support.

Political analysts say a major reason for this is the lingering suspicion that Japan has not rid itself of its aggressive traits that led the country to invade its neighbours in the late 1930s and sow terror there.

Although Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has told Japan to stop apologising for its past, China and South Korea say Tokyo has not shown enough remorse.

Indeed, even academics here say Japan has not changed its ways since it was defeated by the Allied Forces in 1945 and forced to renounce aggression.

Sophia University Professor Gregory Clark, for instance, describes Japan as a “tribally cellular society” where groups put their own interests and expansion ahead of everybody else.

“This is what happened with the pre-war military and it could happen again,” he wrote in a local newspaper recently.