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Japan makes UN pitch to Pacific islands
Nago, Japan (AFP) May 26, 2006 Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a pitch Friday to leaders of Pacific nations to support Japan's bid for the UN Security Council, a goal China has been working hard to block. "I deeply appreciate the support from the Pacific Islands for Japan's efforts to win a permanent seat in the UN Security Council," Koizumi told a summit with 12 Pacific leaders on Japan's southern island of Okinawa. "It's an important objective for all of us to reform the Council to make it suitable for the new century's international community," he told a closed-door session, as quoted by a Japanese foreign ministry official. The summit includes leaders of 12 island states -- Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu -- in addition to New Zealand and Australia. Japan is expected Saturday to announce a three-year aid plan which will be bigger than a previous package, which totalled more than 30 billion yen (268 million dollars) over three years. The island nations hold 12 critical votes at the United Nations and are also being wooed by China. Japan has made winning a seat on the UN Security Council, whose "Big Five" structure reflects the power dynamics at the end of World War II, a top goal of its foreign policy. But Japan's bid has been strongly opposed by China, which is the only Asian nation with veto power on the Security Council and says Japan must do more to atone for its wartime aggression. China, which is due to stop receiving Japanese loans in 2008, has recently turned into an aid donor to the region. Wen Jiabao in April became the first sitting Chinese premier to visit the islands, stopping in Fiji, and promised three billion yuan (42 billion yen, 374 million dollars) in aid over three years. The two-day Okinawa summit, the fourth of its kind, is aimed at boosting the developing nations' economic development and political and environmental security. "During this summit, we are trying to create a new form of cooperation," Koizumi said during the opening ceremony. "I want to name it the Okinawa partnership, which is to build a more prosperous Pacific region based on the efforts by the Pacific islands and aid that Japan will declare." The talks focused in part on fighting climate change, an issue championed by Koizumi and a major concern for a number of Pacific Islands. Tiny Tuvalu risks being submerged if global warming raises the ocean surface. Tuvalu Prime Minister Maatia Toafa during the talks called on Japan to press forward with promoting the Kyoto Protocol, the landmark 1997 treaty reached in Japan's former capital city. The United States and Australia are the sole major industrialized nations that have refused to join Kyoto, arguing that it is unfair as it does not require emission cuts from growing developing nations such as China and India. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Nuclear Space Technology at Space-Travel.com
Poorer Nations Block UN Reform
United Nations (UPI) May 02, 2006Less developed countries in the U.N. budget committee have united to bring to a screeching halt what they see as a bid to take the little power they possess and and put it in the hands of the U.N secretary-general. |
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