Japan’s Bid for a Permanent Seat on the UN Security CouncilFlorian Coulmas

ASIEN – Nr. 100 (2006) pp. 18–22

Gaining a permanent seat on the Security Council of the United Nations has been Japan’s declared foreign policy goal since the early 1990s. The issue was first put on the agenda under the government of Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa. Japan’s influence in the world organisation did not then and still does not today reflect the fact that it is the second biggest contributor to the UN budget (about 20%) and the biggest by far relative to population size. Japanese politicians also felt that it was time for a reform of the Security Council whose composition is based on the power relations at the end of World War II and a charter that still contains the „enemy state“ clause…