Konditionierte Entwicklung? Politische Flexibilität japanischer EntwicklungshilfeChristiane Seitz

ASIEN – Nr. 79 (2001) pp. 33–49

This paper analyses Japan’s political influence in the Asia Pacific region that it asserts through political conditionality of its development policy. Japan, the biggest donor of development aid world-wide and the main donor in 47 recipient countries, explicitly linked political conditionality with its development policy in 1992 when the Japanese government created the Overseas and Development Assistance Charter (ODA-Charter). The focus here is on the following principles of the ODA-Charter: (1) environmental conservation; (2/3) military expenditures and production of mass destruction weapons; and (4) democratisation and human rights. The case studies – China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia – demonstrate how Japan applies these principles. Connecting the implementation of political conditionality with Japan’s national interests identifies a ranking of the different principles with environmental issues at the bottom and the principle military expenditures and mass destruction weapons at the top. This hierarchy correlates with the economic significance of the selected countries with China at the top and India and Pakistan at the bottom. Therefore, it can be demonstrated that Japan’s application of political conditionality in Asia depends on mainly economic factors.