By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Aug 25 2000 (IPS)

Japan is stepping up its longstanding campaign for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, as the second richest country in the world prepares for the UN Millennium Summit in New York next month.

The Japanese government sent out letters on Jul. 14 to 162 member nations of the United Nations, asking their leaders to mention reform in their speeches at the UN summit scheduled to start Sep. 6, according to Japanese media. Reform of the United Nations has been listed as an issue for discussion at the summit.

Tokyo’s bid for a seat on the Security Council is also high on the agenda of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who has been requesting support for this during his ongoing visit to South Asia.

In Dhaka this week, Mori said “United Nations reform is an urgent and necessary matter. I will emphasise this at the UN Millennium Summit.”

But Mori’s request that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina include the reform in her speech at the United Nations was, however, turned down, when she said she would deal with the issue “appropriately”.

Japan’s wish to be included on the Security Council has been a long-time quest, and a pillar of its foreign policy for more than a decade. The other permanent members of the Council are the United States, China, France, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom.

Tokyo believes that having a permanent seat on the Council is natural given its high financial contributions to the United Nations. The country gave more than 20 percent to the UN’s ordinary budget last year — the second largest contribution after the United States.

In March, impatient and younger political leaders from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party even proposed that Japan’s voluntary contributions to the United Nations be cut unless it is made a permanent member of the Security Council in the near future.

Apart from being the world’s top donor — 15.3 billion US dollars in overseas aid in 1999 — Japan believes it is an important global player that must have a permanent seat on the Council.

Analysts point out that Japan harbours a burning desire to gain international prestige — a crucial factor for a country that suffered humiliating defeat at the hands of the Allied forces when it surrendered in 1945 at the end of World War II.

“This is the reason why Japan remains dissatisfied with its much envied economic clout,” Hiroichi Matsumoto, a respected commentator on international affairs explains, referring to perceptions of Japan as an economic power with much less political influence.

“There is this nagging feeling embedded in the national psyche that for all its money, the country has not gained international respect,” he adds.

Still, Japan has increasingly been asserting itself, going far from a ruined country after World War II and one viewed with distrust by many. In the past 10 years, Tokyo has taken steps to shed its much criticised cheque-book diplomacy and become a more active player in the diplomatic arena.

In line with this policy, Japan pushed new issues, such as poverty alleviation and budgetary support for non-governmental organisations (NGOs), into the Group of Eight (G-8) summit when it hosted the event in July.

“There is no doubt Japan has become far more conscious of doing more for global issues rather than fork out money,” says Yoshinari Sumi of the International Development Foundation, an NGO working in Asia.

Yoshinari explains that the Japanese government has been steadily recognising the role of grassroots groups in development, both domestically and in the international arena. This, he says, signals growing maturity.

“I would support Japan’s proposition to join the UN Security Council if Japan works sincerely for the interests of Asia,” he points out.

Another development that suggests a more assertive attitude by Japan has been the emergence of its environmental diplomacy. Apart from singling out support for aid packages for environmental issues in developing countries, Tokyo has been leaning toward a regional strategy to settle problems such as acid rain.

In 1993, Japan’s Environmental Agency created the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia. Tokyo invited researchers from China and South Korea to do joint research to deal with the problem.

“Japan has tried to make environmental diplomacy one of the pillars of its foreign policy in Asia,” points out Shoehi Yonemoto, chief of the Life Science and Society Section at Mitsubishi Kasei Institute.

Japan has also been quietly pushing its own officials into top positions in the United Nations. In November, Japanese diplomat Koichiro Matsuura was unanimously appointed director-general of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Japan’s Sadako Ogata leads the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

In the developing world, Japan has been working hard to expand its clout by using its generous aid budget to garner international support. The strategy has worked. For instance, the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN), the main diplomatic grouping in South-east Asia, stands firmly behind Japan, say Asian experts.

In March, Japanese media quoted Carolina Hernandez of the Manila- based Institute for Strategic and Development Studies as saying ASEAN supports Japan’s bid for a larger global role because “Japan is definitely a global power in economic terms and also in other terms”.

Hernandez’s institute, along with think tanks from other South- east Asian countries, holds regular dialogues with ASEAN governments.

Japan enjoys similar goodwill with Africa. In June, visiting Ghananian President Jerry Rawlings expressed support for Japan’s campaign for UN reform during a meeting with Mori. The premier thanked the African leader by promising more economic support.

Despite all the diplomatic niceties though, analysts still do not paint a rosy picture for Japan’s efforts to gain a UN Security Council seat. “It’s not easy as the media and the government would like to say it is,” opines Yasuo Kurata, an international relations analyst.

While public support for Japan’s bid has been growing — polls last year showed 60 percent approval of efforts to build its international clout — there is still deep-rooted hesitation among people when it comes to revising the constitution to allow Japan to participate in international conflict areas.

The nation’s Peace Constitution does not allow Japanese troops to participate in civil wars overseas, a stipulation that must be changed if Japan enters the Security Council.

Mindful of pacifist public opinion that opposes the past militarism that led Japan into World War II, the Japanese government has been taking piecemeal political moves to assert itself as a global player.

Although some powerful advocates want a new constitution, the government has so far gone only as far as having a new defence co- operation pact with the United States, one that gives Tokyo a bigger role in regional military security.

Kurata contends that constitutional change will take much longer than most politicians expect — a situation that forces Japan to go slower than it might want to in the Security Council debate.

He points out hurdles like China’s clear rejection of having Japan on the Security Council. Beijing officials told reporters in April that China remains “cautious” about UN reform.

Likewise, Japan often comes under international criticism for failing to take a clear stand to force needed changes in developing countries.

In May, a report from the London-based Institute for Strategic Studies took direct aim at Japan for not using its economic clout to encourage more positive action by Indonesia in East Timor, which last year voted to become independent.

“Unable or unwilling to take up an active role in East Timor during the conflict, Japan will continue to find it difficult to press its claims for a permanent position in the UN Security Council,” according to the document.

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