For A Rightful Place: UNSC Reforms and Japan

As per the UN High-Level Panel Report on Threats, Challenges, and Changes [titled ‘A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility’], two options were recommended for broadening the current representation of the UN Security Council. This was done primarily to provide geographical balance and change power equations since the end of World War II and the creation of the United Nations. 

Under Model A, six permanent members would be added to the Security Council, two each from Asia and Africa and one from Europe and the Americas. Also, three new non-permanent members are to be added to the existing quota of ten members. In broad terms, countries of G-4 (Japan, India, Germany, Brazil) are in favour of this arrangement, whereas the 'coffee club' of 40 mid-size countries led by Argentina, Pakistan, Italy, Mexico, South Korea and Spain are against Model A. China, in recent days, have voiced its opposition to Japan's entry into this exclusive club accusing the latter of being arrogant and insincere in offering apology over Japan's conduct during World War II. The United States, on the other hand, has voiced support for the inclusion of G-4, although it is ambivalent on the veto-granting issue. 

Model B provides for the induction of eight 'semi-permanent' members with a renewable term of four years and one new non-permanent member. Predictably, the G-4 nations are against Model B. Conversely, the countries opposed to Model A are backing Model B. For most countries of Africa and Latin America, Model B provides them with an assured stint of a much longer duration at the UNSC. 

During the April 2005 visit of Japanese Premier Junichiro Koizumi to India, Japan made a tactical understanding with India in pushing the diplomatic envelope with veto as its ace card. However, an analysis of veto use by P-5 would show that veto is not so much of a positive power as having a negative connotation. Article 27 of the U.N. Charter specifies the voting procedure for adopting resolutions and makes provisions on procedural matters to be made by an affirmative vote of nine out of fifteen. Only on non-procedural matters, the affirmative vote of nine must include the concurring votes of the five permanent members. During the Cold War, the United States used its veto rights most often, mainly when it affected its closest ally in the Middle East, Israel. 

Given this backdrop, it would be interesting to analyze the rationale behind Japan’s push for permanent membership in the expanded Security Council.

First, Japan contributes roughly 20% of the total UN budget, thus surpassing 15% of the contribution provided to the UN body by P-4 countries combined - excluding the US. Japan has also made a tangible contribution to UN Peace Keeping Operations (PKO), which is 20%; in actual figures, it is around 4.5 billion US dollars. Apart from financial contributions, Japan dispatched 1,220 military personnel to Cambodia, 2,300 military staff to East Timor and over 1,000 S.D.F units to Iraq and Afghanistan in the recent past. 

Second, when the UN was created in 1945, there were only 51 member states, whereas that number has now quadrupled to 191 states. For proper governance and democratic legitimacy in a transparent way, Japan feels there should be a fair level of representational balance. In 1945, one member of the Security Council represented about five countries, whereas in 2005, one member represented 13 countries, thus causing a severe and asymmetrical balance. To add to their muscle, Japan and Germany since 1945 have emerged in the last sixty years as the world's No.2 and No.3 largest economic superpowers. Similarly, Japan feels that developing countries such as India and Brazil have carved a nice for themselves by being upper-tier economies on their own merits and possessing immense reservoirs of manpower and skilled resources. 

Third, the end of the Cold War has paved the way for new issues, such as international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, to come to the fore. Other sources of threat emanate from non-military threats like HIV/AIDS, poverty, environment degradation, etc, and the changed global geopolitics demands concerted action and formulation of a well-represented deliberative decision-making system in the UNSC. As Japan feels, an enhanced permanent membership of this body will generate vigorous debate that will ultimately lead to viable solutions within the spirit of consensus building. 

While the UN General Assembly is scheduled to start a debate on a draft resolution submitted by the G-4 in mid-July, Japan strongly asserts that it has come out of the shadow of the past—notwithstanding the opposition to its candidacy by China and South Korea—in leading the charge from the front as the UNGA takes up the much-needed reform package proposal in September and ensuring Japan's rightful place in the world's most powerful body.