Japan wants to cut its UN contributions
(AAP)
Updated: 2005-09-12 20:34

Japan plans to demand a cut in its contributions to the United Nations budget from 2007 after the failure of its high-profile campaign to win a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, a leading newspaper has reported.

Tokyo had stepped up a decades-old drive for a permanent seat in recent months, but met with lukewarm support from the United States and hostility from China, which cites what it perceives as Japan's failure to atone for its wartime past.

With little prospect of a seat, the government believes it will no longer be able to ensure public support for shouldering almost 20 per cent of the UN budget, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, citing government sources.

Japan is set to demand that permanent Security Council members should make financial contributions to match their status, an argument that is likely to face opposition from China and Russia, whose contributions would rise, the paper said.

Assuming that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi wins the election, which polls indicate he is likely to do, his foreign minister, Nobutaka Machimura, would make a speech on the need to review UN contributions at a General Assembly meeting in New York starting on September 19, the Yomiuri said.

The government plans to submit a formal resolution on UN contributions in the spring, and to try to enlist the support of other countries that contribute relatively large amounts, such as South Korea and Germany, the report said.

The UN's total 2005 budget was $US1.83 billion ($A2.4 billion), of which Japan provided 19.47 per cent and the United States 22 per cent, the Yomiuri said.

Assuming an election win, Koizumi is likely to attend a UN summit beginning on September 14, which is set to discuss expansion of the Security Council, among a range of other topics.

The director for United Nations policy at the Foreign Ministry, Kazutoshi Aikawa, told Reuters in an interview on Friday that Japan would forge ahead with its bid for a permanent seat, but might need to find a new approach.

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