Abstract
This chapter first provides a short overview of past attempts to reform the Security Council, followed by an analysis of the detailed positions which Japan has taken on Council reform in the working group on Security Council reform which began its work in January 1994.1 These various Security Council reform items can be roughly divided into issues related to equal representation on the Council (for example, scope of enlargement, veto right), membership qualification (for exampie, financial power) and working practices of the Council (for exampie, transparency). The final part deals with Japan’s efforts to promote its bid during 1997 which was considered the make-or-break year of Security Council reform. In order to provide a comparative perspective, Japan’s stance and activity in the Working Group are compared with Germany, the only other industrialized country having publicly declared its candidature for permanent Security Council membership.
I don’t have an opinion on Security Council reform, I have a veto. Comment by a diplomat belonging to one of the Five Permanent Security Council members, asked about Security Council reform (told to this author by a diplomat accredited to the UN).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Winrich Kühne and Katja Baumann, Reform des VN-Sicherheitsrats zum 50jährigen Jubiläum. Auswertung und Analyse der Stellungsnahmen der Mitgliedstaaten im überblick, (Reform of the Security Council on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Evaluation and analysis of a survey of member states’ positions), Ebenhausen: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, July 1995, SWP-AP 2919, p.21.
Sam Daws, ‘Seeking seats, votes and vetoes’, The World Today, vol. 53, no. 10, October 1997, p.257.
Gundolf Fahl, Der UNO-Sicherheitsrat. Analyse und Dokumentation nach dreißigjährigem Bestehen, Berlin: Berlin Verlag Arno Spitz, 1978, p.22.
Hanna Newcombe, ‘Reform of the U.N. Security Council’, Peace Research Reviews, vol. VIII, no. 3, May 1979, p.1.
T. Nakagawa statements on Charter review on 23 September 1972 and 30 November 1972 in Statements Delivered by Delegates of Japan during the XXVIIth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Tokyo: United Nations Bureau, Minstry of Foreign Affairs, 1973, pp.177–81.
UN document GA/AB/3210, 5th Committee, 22 December 1997. Another Chinese comment opposing economic power as a criterion is made by Chao Guisheng, ‘Guidelines for UN restructuring’, Beijing Review, 17–23 May 1993, p.9.
UN documents GA Res. 2961 B (XXVII) 13 December 1972, quoted in Bruno Simma, (ed.), The Charter of the United Nations: A Commentary, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994, p.310. Before that, the US paid around 40 per cent!
Jens Martens, ‘Aussitzen oder mitgestalten? Deutschland in der Debatte um die Reform der UNO’ (Hanging in or shaping the UN? Germany in the debate about UN reform), in UN-williges Deutschland. Der WEED-Report zur deutschen UNO-Politik, Bonn: Dietz Verlag, 1997, p.234. According to Ingo Winkelmann, the reason for this German position was above all the common EU position on financial reform which demands first US payment of its arrears and then a more equitable assessment ratio. Letter to the author 8 December 1998.
Letter to the Editor by Kazuo Watanabe, Permanent Mission of Japan to the UN, The Economist, 31 January–6 February 1998, p.4.
This was explained to the author by a senior diplomat in the US embassy in Tokyo, 17 November 1997. See also Sato Kazuo, ‘Fukuzatsu ni hairi irikunda rigai do chosei suru ka’, p.48. Assistant Secretary of State Reimen explained in an interview that the US stance is based on the four-year experience of Secretary of State M. Albright as UN ambassador; ‘Ampori kaikaku to kokueki’ (The reform of the UN SC and the national interest) (Interview with Reiman and Uibisono) Asahi Shimbun, 3 October 1997.
Tatsuro Kunugi, Makoto Iokibe, Takahiro Shinyo, and Kohei Hashimoto, Towards a more effective UN, Tokyo PHP Research Institute: 1996, p.26.
Japan Economic Research Institute (Nikkeicho) (ed.), United Nations reform and Japan, Tokyo: August 1994 (Chairman: Moroi Ken). p.9.
Barry O’Neill, ‘Power and satisfaction in the Security Council’, in Bruce Russett (ed.), The once and future Security Council, New York: St Martin’s Press, 1997, p.65.
On the opposition to the extension of the veto to any other country, see, for example, Democratic Representative Robert Torricelli, quoted in Jeffrey Laurenti, Reforming the Security Council,, p.14. See the opposition of the New York Times, editorial to an extension of the veto right: ‘Enlarge the Security Council’ New York Times,, 15 August 1997. Two other American UN specialists also want to keep the veto restricted to the P5: Edward C. Luck and Toby Trister Gati, ‘Whose collective security?’, Washington Quarterly, Spring 1992, p.47.
Interview with a senior diplomat of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 5 May 1998. See also Horst Heberlein, ‘Rechtliche Aspekte einer ständigen Mitgliedschaft Deutschlands in UN-Sicherheitsrat’, p. 359; Interview with a senior Japanese diplomat, 1 November 1996; ‘UN veto a divisive reform issue. Canada opposed to extending power’, Toronto Globe & Mail, 19 July 1997.
Hisashi Owada, ‘Diplomacy of Japan in the post-Gulf-crisis world’, Business & The Contemporary World, Winter 1992, p.74.
Ueki Yasuhiro, ‘Ko sureba Nihon wa Joninrijikoku ni nareru’ (Done this way Japan can become a permanent Security Council member), Sekai Shuho, 31 January 1995, pp.65–6.
Yoshida Yasuhiko, ‘Ampori joninrijikoku iri’ (Becoming a member of the Security Council), Mainichi Shimbun, 24 October 1993.
G. R. Berridge, Return to the UN. UN diplomacy in regional conflicts, Houndmills: Macmillan, 1991, p.3
Berridge, quoting Sydney Bailey, The procedure of the UN Security Council, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988, p.42.
Statement by H. E. Amabassador Hisashi Owada on the Report of the Security Council, 31 October 1994, in Statements delivered by Delegates of Japan during the 49th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Tokyo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1995, p. 23.
Just before going into retirement, Germany’s UN ambassador Graf Rantzau criticized UN ambassador Albright’s arrogance towards the Third World and obstruction of Security Council reform. He accused the P5 of using the Security Council for national interest policies. See Thomas Schuler, ‘Profillose Mitläufer? Wie deutsche UN-Politik in New York gesehen wird’ (How German UN policy is viewed in New York), in UN-willinges Deutschland. Der WEED-Report zur deutschen UNO-Politik, Bonn: Dietz Verlag, 1997, p.249.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2000 Reinhard Drifte
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Drifte, R. (2000). Japan’s Participation in the Working Group on Security Council Reform. In: Japan’s Quest for a Permanent Security Council Seat. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230598843_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230598843_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-40234-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-59884-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)