New foreign aid charter signals much more active overseas role for Japan

Tokyo

JAPAN announced its intention on Tuesday to insert itself much more actively into the international development process by adopting a new Development Cooperation Charter that expands significantly the scope, if not directly, the size of Japanese foreign aid and links it to the recently adopted National Security Strategy.

The document revises Japan's former ODA (Official Development Assistance Charter) and allows the government to take a much broader view of foreign aid than in the past and to provide funds not only to poorer countries, but also to Asian and other middle-income nations requiring help with their development.

Aid will focus especially on regions that could be regarded as part of the Japanese hinterland, such as South-east Asia - Asean in particular - as well as South and Central Asia, in addition to areas such as Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, and will embrace commercial as well as other objectives.

By broadening the thrust of aid to embrace Japanese cooperation between public and private sectors in Japan and overseas, the new charter is expected to help the country market its technology and hardware in infrastructure and other project finance.

The charter, which was approved on Tuesday by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet, takes the country into new and potentially controversial territory by approving the use of official development assistance to support foreign military forces in non-combat operations such as disaster relief and coast guard activities.

The new charter effectively lifts the ban on assisting foreign military forces with such funds, a move some analysts say could trigger concerns that aid could be diverted for military purposes, though the government maintains its policy of not extending aid to foreign militaries.

"The government says its aid is only for such purposes as post-disaster rescue (but) the problem is that it is impossible to make sure they are used only for such purposes," Yoichi Ishii, professor emeritus at Kanagawa University was quoted by Reuters as saying.

While the policy document pledges that Japan will "adhere to the course it has taken to date as a peace-loving nation", it describes development cooperation as "one of the most important tools of Japanese foreign policy, which calls for strategic and agile responses to ever-changing international affairs".

The charter cites the "strategic importance of recipient countries" as one aid criteria and comes at a time when Mr Abe is seeking constitutional changes that will allow Japan to make a "proactive contribution to peace" including deploying the nation's Self Defense Force more actively on overseas missions.

"Japan must strongly lead the international community" through its aid and security policies, the document says, marking a break with post-war tradition in which Tokyo has been a relatively passive partner, supplying bilateral and multilateral aid in pursuit of development policies that were largely decided elsewhere.

A government official was unable to say at a briefing on Tuesday whether the new charter will alter the financial size of the contribution that Japan makes to multilateral development agencies and increase the size of bilateral aid. He noted only that the charter codifies trends that have been underway for some time.

One of the key elements of the charter, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told BT, is that it gives Japan more "flexibility" in providing aid to middle-income countries - defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as those with a per capita income above US$12,000 - in addition to poorer countries.

This helps open the door to greater aid for South-east Asia among others. "Asia is a region that has a close relationship with Japan and high relevance to its security and prosperity," the charter notes. "With this recognition, Japan will extend development assistance to the region."

Particularly with respect to the Asean region, "Japan will support the establishment of the Asean Community as well as the comprehensive and sustained development of Asean as a whole".

"This will include a focus on the development of both physical and non-physical infrastructure including that which is needed for strengthening connectivity and the reduction of disparities both within the region and within individual countries."

In South Asia, "Japan will support regional stability and the fulfilment of a variety of objectives to maximise regional potential", the charter says.

"This will involve cooperation for building the foundations for economic development through growth, including cooperation on improving trade and investment climate, especially by developing infrastructure and strengthening connectivity in the Asian region.

"Japan will also extend cooperation on basic human needs such as healthcare, sanitation and education, and on socio-economic infrastructure development for narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor."