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Aso of Japan Spends 10 Hours at UN, Carrots for
Myanmar, Silence on UNIC Finances
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
September 26 -- Emerging from
Japan's political turmoil, old and new Prime Minister Taro Aso and the
Foreign
Minister he appointed on September 23, Yasuhiro Nakasone
traveled to New
York on September 25 for a whirlwind of meet and greets. Aso stayed
only ten hours,
but met with Ban Ki-moon, among others. On
September 26, Inner City Press asked the Spokesman for Japan's Ministry
of
Foreign Affairs, Kazuo Kodama, five questions, two of which he dodged.
In no
particular order, Inner City Press asked about Japan's commitment of
uniformed
personnel to the UN Mission in Sudan, and pull out from Iraq. Kodama
confirmed
that the Japanese in Iraq had been protected by the UK troops in Basra;
in
Khartoum, he said, they will carry small firearms.
Another
reporter asked, how many people?
Inner City Press asked, how many bullets? Because while the UN may wish
to
increase Japanese participation in peacekeeping missions due to how
much of the
budget Japan pays for, to have personnel who are a burden, in terms of
being
legally unable to protect themselves, might tip the balance in the
other
direction.
Kodama
was willing
to describe Japan's position on Myanmar as one of dialogue and
pressure, in
which Myanmar should sometimes be rewarded. This was in response to
Inner City
Press' question if Japan thought Ban Ki-moon should consider visiting
Myanmar
as long as, for example, Aung San Suu Kyi is still under house arrest.
Taro Aso at UN during one of his 10
hours, Serbia vote and UNIC money not shown
Inner
City Press
asked about reported
financial irregularities at the UN Information Center in
Toyko, in which money from Japan was wasted. Whereas a New
York-based Japanese
diplomat told Inner City Press that his government is keen to get to
the bottom
of this, Kodama said it is between the UN in New York and the UN in
Tokyo, as
well as the latter's former director. Hardly an aggressive approach to
UN
reform, in contrast to Japan's pushing for reform of the Security
Council, on
which Japan wants a permanent seat.
How
will Japan vote
on Serbia's resolution to seek an advisory opinion from the
International Court
of Justice about the legality of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of
independence. I don't know yet, Kodama
said, I have to check with Toyko. We'll
wait for the additional answers.
Watch this site, and this Sept. 18 (UN) debate.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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