JAPANESE ODA AND ORWELLIAN LOGIC

[darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx]

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE JAPANESE
 
I really thought the British were the world masters in
diplomatic double-speak and convoluted logic.  However, if the
enclosed reports by the "Japan Times" and the plain-speaking
"Voice of America" are accurate, the Japanese should now move
to the top of the class with their annihilation of the
distinction between humanitarian and development assistance. 
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) seems to be
saying that it is legitimate to use Japanese ODA (Official
Development Assistance) to extend the runway at Rangoon
Airport because  "the runway ... has become dangerous to
travelers and fixing it would be a humanitarian act" (VOA
report).  Or, in the words of Kazuo Asakai, Japan's new
ambassador to Rangoon, "Japan is trying to ensure airport
safety with the planned loans from a humanitarian viewpoint" 
("Japan Times" interview).
 
Japan has guidelines which prohibit ODA loans to countries
which lack democracy and human rights, economic liberalisation
and  environmental sensitivity, and which engage in high
military spending. Burma is overwhelmingly disqualified in all
these areas, but "humanitarian" grants can be given with fewer
restrictions. The trick is therefore to present the work on
the runway as "humanitarian" to get round the guidelines. 
 
If increasing the safety of a specific privileged group -- in
this case, air travellers -- and allowing larger aircraft to
use the airport, can be a reason for giving "humanitarian" ODA
(and let us remember that very few of the travellers are 
Burmese civilians), how far could the logic go?  Well,
clearly, Burma needs a bigger and more mobile army to protect
its unpopular government. It would follow that ODA to buy more
arms and build military roads would be humanitarian.
Similarly, one could argue that the country needs more exports
to boost national development and ultimately reduce poverty. 
"Humanitarian" ODA should therefore be directed, for example,
to the mining and logging sectors, to enable them to extract
more of the resources that Japanese corporations would like to
get their hands on, to earn revenues which could ultimately be
devoted to this humanitarian goal.  And so on.    
 
Seriously, though, the Japanese ODA watchdogs (organisations
monitoring ODA) as well as the Japanese and US press,
including cartoonists, should have legal and journalistic fun
with this move by the MOFA, which appears so clearly specious. 
There can sometimes be a fine line between development
assistance and humanitarian relief, but not in this case. If
it were a question of the dilapidated state of the runway
impeding the delivery of essential humanitarian relief, there
might be an argument; but hardly when this infrastructure
development would mainly benefit Burmese generals, Japanese
businessmen and the occasional tourist. 
 
Another factor is that the original funds for the airport
modernization were project loans, which form the great bulk of
Japanese ODA, and would fall under the MOFA's category of aid
for transportation infrastructure. Humanitarian aid (in
Japanese: JIN-DO-TEKI ENJO) such as emergency food or medical
assistance following a natural catastrophe is grant aid, and
falls under a completely different category. This is clearly
shown in MOFA's annual two-volume yearbook on ODA, WAGA KUNI
NO SEIFU KAIHATSU ENJO (Our Country's Official Development
Assistance).  The "humanitarian loans" which Ambassador Kazuo
Asakai refers to would appear to be a newly-invented category
of dubious legality.
 
 
David Arnott, Geneva, 15 March 1998
 
*******************
Recent reports on the matter:
 
NEW ENVOY RESPONS TO CRITICS: YEN LOANS FOR MYANMAR FALL
WITHIN HUMANITARIAN BOUNDS
                   
By Hisane Masaki
Staff writer
 
     After several months of vacillating and dithering, Japan
is finally poised to take the plunge into the choppy waters of
international politics and turn open the loan tap for
Myanmar's military regime.
     In the first release of official yen loans to the
Southeast Asian country since the military grabbed power there
in a 1988 coup, Tokyo plans to disburse about 2.5 billion yen
in low-interest loans as early as later this month for the
repair of a damaged runway at Yangon's international airport.
     The military junta put opposition leader and Nobel Peace
Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest in 1989 and
annulled the results of the 1990 democratic elections, in
which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide
victory.  Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in the
summer of 1995. 
     Although Japan, like the United States and Europe,
suspended official development assistance to Myanmar following
the 1988 coup, it has pursued "constructive engagement" with
Yangon -- instead of isolating, so as to encourage favorable
changes there.
     But the relatively modest 2.5 billion loan plan has
already drawn some criticism both at home and abroad because
it comes despite the military regime's continued crackdown on
the prodemocracy movement led by Suu Kyi. 
     In recent months, the U.S. and Europe has stepped up
pressure on Myanmar's military junta -- the State Peace and
Development Council, as it now calls itself -- over its
blatant violations of human rights and democratic principles
and they have toughened economic sanctions against the
country.
     Commenting on the Japanese financing plan, James Foley, a
U.S. State Department spokesman, told reporters recently that
the U.S. "does not support the resumption of large-scale aid
projects to Burma (Myanmar) at this time."
     But Tokyo, while acknowledging the lack of significant
progress on Myanmar's human rights and democracy, insists that
the planned loan disbursement is for the purely "humanitarian"
purpose of addressing grave safety concerns over the
superannuated airport.
     Kazuo Asakai, the new ambassador to Yangon and a former
top Foreign Ministry official in charge of international
cooperation on human rights, drug trafficking and other issues
of global concern, shared his views on Japan's Myanmar policy
with The Japan Times before leaving Tokyo later this month for
his new post.
     Here are excerpts of the interview:
Q:   Why has Japan decided to resume yen loans to Myanmar now
after a suspension of more than 10 years?
A:   The planned 2.5 billion yen in yen loans is just part of
27 billion yen loans Japan had committed to Myanmar for the
airport repair and expansion project before the 1988 military
coup.  Therefore, it does not represent a departure from
Japan's postcoup policy of neither committing nor disbursing
fresh official development assistance except for humanitarian
purposes.  In the past decade, the use of Yangon's
international airport has grown dramatically.  The annual
number of passengers who use the airport has risen to 1.6
million from 300,000 in 1988.  In 1995, an average of 68
flights landed or took off per day, compared with only 10
flights in 1988.  The airport runway and telecommunications
equipment are in an advanced state of disrepair.  Japan is
trying to ensure airport safety with the planned loans from a
humanitarian viewpoint.  It would be too late if a tragic
accident happened.
Q:   Japan has apparently sounded out the U.S. administration
many times about the airport financing plan since last summer. 
The U.S. response so far to recent media reports of the plan
seems relatively muted.  Is the U.S. administration's position
of not supporting the plan, as stated by the State Department
spokesman Foley, tantamount to "condoning" the Japanese move?
A:   It is true that the Japanese government has taken various
occasions to fully explain its views to the U.S.
administration.  But when you say "condoning," you are
interpreting the State Department spokesman's comment.
I am not in a position to interpret any remarks made by U.S.
administration officials.  I simply take the remarks as the
are.
Q:   Before State Foreign Secretary Masahiko Komura visited
Yangon last summer, there was heated debate within the
government over whether Japan should disburse the loans.  But
at that time, the view that such a step was premature
eventually prevailed.  According to government sources, the
U.S. administration warned Tokyo shortly before Mr. Komura's
Yangon trip that the loans would damage Japan-U.S. relations,
which were already soured at the time over how to deal with
Hun Sen, Cambodia's strongman.  Japan has taken the diplomatic
initiative recently in helping ensure the holding of a free
and fair election in Cambodia, scheduled for this summer.  In
the recent crisis over the United Nations' weapons inspections
of Iraq, Japan also showed its cooperative stance toward the
U.S.  Have these developments made Japanese officials judge
that any damage done by the disbursement of the Yangon airport
loans to the overall relations between Tokyo and Washington
would be kept to a minimum? 
A:   Japan is not directly linking the airport loan issue to
the issues of Cambodia and Iraq.  But the overall atmosphere
surrounding the Japan-U.S. relations was an indirect factor
behind the Japanese loan plan.  Japan is placing particular
importance on relations with the U.S.  But another important
factor Japan takes into account is what the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations is thinking.  (ASEAN admitted Myanmar
last summer despite objections from the U.S. and Europe.) 
Last December, Japan held a summit meeting with the ASEAN
nations in Kuala Lumpur and had an opportunity to exchange
views with some of them on Myanmar at the top political level.
Those ASEAN nations said they wanted Japan to disburse the
airport loans as soon as possible.
Q:   Until recently, you had served for two years as the
Foreign Ministry's top official in charge of international
cooperation on human rights, drug trafficking and other issues
of global concern.  How are you going to address the question
of improving Myanmar's human rights record?
A:   Promotion of human rights protection and democracy in the
international community is one of the pillars of Japan's
foreign policy.  I am firmly determined to continue pressing
Myanmar for improvement on such fronts.  But the issues of
human rights and democracy are too difficult to be resolved
overnight.  I have learned from my experience in the past two
years that dialogue, persuasion and cooperation are important
when promoting human rights.  I want to call on various
officials in Myanmar, while exercising as much patience as
possible, to improve the country's human rights record.  In
addition, I want to call on Myanmar, a major drug producer, to
cooperate with Japan to eradicate drug trafficking.  To
address the drug issue, efforts by both producing and
consuming countries are inevitable.  Unlike the U.S. and
Europe, drug consumption hasn't yet become a serious problem
in Japan.  But as a responsible member of the international
community, Japan needs to contribute actively to addressing
the drug issue.  I also believe that Japan should promote
economic cooperation with Myanmar in developing human
resources and such humanitarian fields as medical care,
regardless of what the country's regime is like.
Q:   The Myanmarese economy has been dealt a blow by the
recent financial crisis that has swept through East Asia.  In
recent months, foreign investment in Myanmar has been
declining and the market rate of the country's currency, the
kyat, plummeting precipitously against the dollar. 
Before the Asian turmoil erupted, Myanmar's military regime
had bragged that foreign investment in the country, led by its
Asian neighbors such and Singapore and Thailand, was growing
smoothly despite the continued U.S. and European economic
sanctions.  But those neighbors are now cutting back on
their Myanmar investment amid economic problems at home.  Some
analysts say that it is a matter of time before the military
regime will be forced to take some action, possibly
concessions to the prodemocracy opposition, to improve its
ties with the U.S. and other major donor nations as a way of
pulling the country out of dire economic straits.  Would you
agree with them?
A:   I don't know whether Myanmar's external policy will
change because of the Asian financial crisis.  Myanmar has a
great potential for economic development in the medium and
long term.  The country is relatively rich in natural gases
and other resources.  Its people are said to be diligent.  But
Myanmar must promote transparency in its economic policy and
open its economy wider to foreign competition if it is to
realize that development potential.  Any country can secure
its economic interests only by integrating itself in the
international community.  Even Japan and the U.S.
are not exceptions.
Q:   While the U.S. and many other industrialized countries
continue harsh economic and other sanctions against Myanmar,
China has increased economic aid to the country in recent
years, a move that many analysts say is aimed at securing
Chinese access to the Indian Ocean for strategic regions.  The
growing Chinese influence on Myanmar has raised security
concerns among some Asian nations, especially India, China's
rival in the region.  ASEAN's admission of Myanmar last summer
is believed to reflect its desire to prevent Yangon from
falling under the sway of Beijing.  How do you view the
strengthening ties between Yangon and Beijing?
A:   I think its quite natural that China is interested in
strengthening relations with its southern neighbor.  Japan has
no intention of vying with China for hegemony in Southeast
Asia.  I think it is a good thing for China to extend economic
cooperation to Myanmar.  But at the same time, I am not so
naive as to be indifferent to what motives China has.  Myanmar
occupies a geopolitically important location.  At this moment,
however, I do not have any immediate security concern over the
strengthening ties between Yangon and Beijing.
 
"Japan Times", Friday, March 13, 1998
 
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*************************************
 
DATE=2/27/98
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-227364
TITLE=JAPAN/ BURMA (L-ONLY)
BYLINE=THOMAS CALDWELL
DATELINE=TOKYO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:  
 
INTRO: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS AND BURMESE EXILES IN JAPAN SAY 
THEY ARE CONCERNED THE JAPANESE  GOVERNMENT WILL SOON  RESUME 
DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE LOANS TO THE BURMESE MILITARY
GOVERNMENT. AS THOMAS CALDWELL REPORTS FROM TOKYO, THE
ACTIVISTS ARE CALLING ON JAPAN TO CONTINUE ITS BAN ON AID TO
BURMA.
 
TEXT:   JAPANESE NEWSPAPERS AND MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT SAY THE 
GOVERNMENT IS PLANNING  TO EXTEND A SO-CALLED OFFICIAL 
DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE LOAN OF NEARLY 20 MILLION DOLLARS TO
THE BURMESE GOVERNMENT.  THE MONEY WOULD BE EARMARKED FOR
REPAIR WORK AT RANGOON'S INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.   
 
THE MOVE -- WHICH HAS NOT BEEN OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED BY THE 
GOVERNMENT -- WOULD EFFECTIVELY END JAPAN'S DECADE-LONG FREEZE
ON LOANS TO THE COUNTRY, THAT BEGAN AFTER A BLOODY MILITARY 
CRACKDOWN ON PRO-DEMOCRACY DEMONSTRATORS IN 1988. THE MAIN
REASON GIVEN  FOR RENEWING AID IS THAT THE RUNWAY AT THE
NATION'S PRIMARY PORT OF ENTRY HAS BECOME DANGEROUS TO
TRAVELERS, AND FIXING IT WOULD BE A HUMANITARIAN ACT.   
 
MEMBERS OF THE BURMESE COMMUNITY IN JAPAN, MANY OF WHOM BECAME
EXILES FOLLOWING THE MILITARY CRACKDOWN 10 YEARS AGO, SAY THEY
ARE INCENSED BY THE REPORTS.  ANG THU, EDITOR AND CHIEF OF THE
VOICE OF BURMA, A BURMESE LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN
TOKYO, HAS BEEN LIVING IN JAPAN FOR SIX YEARS. HE SAYS HE FLED
HIS HOMELAND FOLLOWING HIS RELEASE FROM CUSTODY FOR HIS PART
IN THE 1988 DEMOCRATIC UPRISING IN RANGOON.  MR. THU SAYS
JAPAN SHOULD NOT PAY FOR THE REPAIR OF RANGOON'S RUNWAY.
 
             // THU ACT // 
 
 THEY CAN BUILD RANGOON RUNWAY BY THEMSELVES. I DON'T THINK
THEY NEED THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT TO SUPPORT THIS.
 
            //END ACT// 
 
KEN KAWASAKI, THE DIRECTOR OF THE BURMA RELIEF CENTER IN
JAPAN, WHICH ASSISTS BURMESE REFUGEES, SAYS FUNDING THE
AIRPORT REPAIR PROJECT WOULD BENEFIT JAPANESE INDUSTRY AND THE
BURMESE MILITARY GOVERNMENT, AT THE EXPENSE OF THE BURMESE
PEOPLE.
 
            // KAWASAKI ACT //
 
 ANY LOANS SIMPLY GO TO ENRICH THEM AND PROLONG THEIR POWER. 
JAPANESE CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES, TRADING COMPANIES WANT TO 
ESTABLISH THEMSELVES AND TO HAVE BUSINESS THERE. AND IF THE 
JAPANESE GOVERNMENT IS LOANING MONEY TO THE MILITARY
GOVERNMENT, WHO WILL TURN AROUND AND GIVE IT TO A JAPANESE
COMPANY, THEN THEY ARE BENEFITING; BUT THE PEOPLE CERTAINLY
ARE NOT GOING TO BENEFIT.
 
           //END ACT//
 
SEVERAL MEMBERS OF THE RULING LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY
EXPRESSED DISMAY AT THE REPORTS OF THE RESUMPTION OF
ASSISTANCE TO BURMA. THERE ARE PLANS FOR A DISCUSSION OF THE
ISSUE IN PARLIAMENT NEXT WEEK. (SIGNED)
 
NEB/TC/GC/FC/WFR
 
27-Feb-98 5:52 AM EST (1052 UTC)
NNNN
 
Source: Voice of America