JAPAN: Peace Diplomacy Reflects Effort to Push Global Profile

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Dec 19 2002 (IPS) - Dogged by a sluggish economy, and a series of political and corporate scandals, Japan is turning its cultivating peace diplomacy in Asian conflict situations in order to revive its global profile.

Over the past year, Tokyo has hosted several donor conferences on the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Asian countries torn by conflict – for Afghanistan in January, and for Aceh in December. It is also hosting a donors’ conference for Sri Lanka next year.

Tokyo’s efforts to increase its role in conflict resolution reflects an attempt to channel its traditional clout in official development assistance into a constructive political and strategic role.

"Japan, given its Peace Constitution, cannot pursue military contribution to the eradication of (problems like) terrorism. A role in conflict resolution will promote security in Asia, an important goal for Japan," said a Foreign Ministry official. In this age of global threats, Japan cannot consider itself immune from those troubles and must participate û governments and activists included – in the solution of these conflicts, said Yasushi Akashi, Japan’s envoy for the Sri Lankan peace process and chairman of the Japan Centre for Conflict Prevention.

"We feel that Japan’s assistance (in finance, in equipment) is certainly very useful and is appreciated, but we feel that more Japanese themselves should participate in the reconstruction or in peacekeeping or in police duties,” Akashi said on Thursday.

In January, months after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Tokyo hosted a conference of international donors that led to 1.8 billion U.S. dollars in pledges for the construction of the country.

On Dec. 3, Tokyo hosted a conference bringing together donors for the reconstruction of Aceh û ahead of a Dec. 9 peace accord signed by the Indonesian government and rebels of the Free Aceh Movement after 26 years of separatist conflict.

But analysts say the highlight of Japan’s emerging new role is its efforts toward peace in Sri Lanka, where peace talks are underway between Colombo and the Tamil Tiger rebels after 19 years of a separatist insurgency.

Norway has been mediating the bloody conflict, but Tokyo has also been trying to play a high-profile role in the issue.

"Sri Lanka is considered a test case for Japan’s peace diplomacy," said professor Hisashi Nakamura, an advisor to the government on the peace talks.

In response to a request by Sri Lanka, Tokyo appointed ex-U.N. diplomat Akashi, who played roles in the conflict in Yugoslavia and Cambodia, as Japan’s representative to the peace process.

In early November, Akashi visited the conflict-affected spots in north-eastern Sri Lanka, including Jaffna, and refugee camps. He also met landmine removal activists.

‘’I assume this is the first time Japan has appointed a government representative before the peace process framework is built,” he remarked. "The situation is still difficult and Japan should use ODA to stimulate economy and peace in Sri Lanka,” he said here Thursday.

Last week, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi announced that Tokyo would give a 1.62 million dollar emergency grant to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to support the return of some one million refugees displaced by the Sri Lankan conflict.

The amount is part of the 2.83 million dollars in emergency aid for Sri Lanka that Japan pledged at the first donors’ conference for Sri Lanka hosted by Norway on Nov. 25. Kawaguchi herself is scheduled to visit Colombo in early January.

Tokyo’s moves û ahead of a permanent settlement in the conflict – are meant to provide additional inducement for lasting peace, according to diplomats here.

Akashi also expressed the hope that Tokyo’s involvement would encourage Japanese non-government groups to work on these issues as well, and noted that other foreign activists were already involved at this stage of the Sri Lankan peace efforts.

"In that precarious stage of unstable peace, if ODA (official development assistance) is skilfully utilised, even on a small scale but quickly and dynamically, perhaps through the use of NGOs, it will have a very, very positive impact on the cause of peace,” he explained.

"We are urging NGOs as well as Japan International Cooperation Agency to come out with quick impact projects (in Sri Lanka). They may be small, they may be modest but they have a visible effect on the improvement of the life of eternally displaced people and refugees,” Akashi added.

Japan’s strategy as peace broker has been pushed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi under his agenda for national reform.

Peace diplomacy is expected to balance off a reduction in the country’s clout stemming from the drop in its aid funds û long a pillar of Tokyo’s international profile and a main part of its foreign policy.

Japan’s assistance funds have been showing almost zero growth rate in recent years. It had a 10 percent cut in the aid budget for fiscal year 2002, which ends in March, to 75 billion dollars. These reductions have seen Japan slip from the rank of the world’s top donor and take second place behind the United States.

At home, public support for official aid has also been dropping in the wake of corruption scandals linking top politicians and bureaucrats to misuse of public funds.

In short, Nakamura explained, "supporting peace deals are a turning point in Japanese diplomacy" because it uses Tokyo’s financial clout as a means of prodding warring parties.

He added, ‘’the sponsoring of peace is well-supported by the public, not least because this does not conflict with Japan’s Peace Constitution,” which limits the country to having Self-Defence Forces with a defensive role and limited military activities overseas û a traditional way of involvement used by other countries in peacekeeping.

In many ways, experts say Tokyo’s cultivation of peace diplomacy would promote a Japanese foreign policy that is more independent and one not heavily dependent on the United States.

This issue is especially important as the U.S. government increases pressure on Japan to support an attack on Iraq and public concern about Tokyo’s support for this action.

Despite the overall enthusiasm for peace diplomacy, sceptics say that Japan’s peace approach may actually be more in response to the U.S. ‘war on terrorism’ and its view of what Japan’s international role should be, rather than a genuine policy priority based on Tokyo’s interests and vision.

”Fostering conflict resolution is a good thing,” remarked Asai. ‘’However, Japan must take care not to fall into the pitfall of promoting U.S. security interests once again.”

JAPAN: Peace Diplomacy Reflects Effort to Push Global Profile

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Dec 19 2002 (IPS) - Dogged by a sluggish economy, and a series of political and corporate scandals, Japan is turning its cultivating peace diplomacy in Asian conflict situations in order to revive its global profile.
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