January 21, 2004
HANDOUTS?:
Fiscal constraints mean smaller Japanese handouts for U.N. (The Japan Times, Jan. 22, 2004)
Japan has decided to reduce its financial contributions to international organizations, including the United Nations, in light of its tight fiscal situation, government sources said Wednesday.The government plans to carry out a thorough review of these funds, which rose 2.7 percent to 133.3 billion yen in the fiscal 2004 budget, thereby allowing changes to be made in the budget for fiscal 2005 and beyond, the sources said.
The government will aim to cut its contributions to the U.N. by several billion yen when members' contribution ratio is next revised in 2006.
In the fiscal 2004 budget, 37.3 billion yen has been allocated to the international body.
Under the current arrangement, Japan puts up 19.5 percent of the funds for the U.N., down about 1 percentage point from when the percentage was last revised in 2000.
Geez, it's not like they have a serious military or anything. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 21, 2004 8:04 PM
I read that Kofi also thinks it's not a good idea to rely so heavily on my/our money. It's about time, India, China and Western Europe can afford to pay their fair share.
Posted by: Sandy P. at January 21, 2004 11:20 PMMr. Judd;
Japan actually has a pretty good military. It's simply discounted because it's not allowed to be deployed outside of Japan. IIRC, Japan spends about 1% of GDP on its "self defense forces" which adds up to a whole lot of yen in the hands of a technologically savvy people.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at January 22, 2004 1:19 AMIs paying 20% of the UN' costs a good deal for the Japanese ?
After all, it's not like military action comes free after paying UN dues; Japan gets hit up all the time to help pay for international missions, including Iraq I & II.
Also, the UN did a swell job in keeping nukes out of the hands of madmen in Asia, no ? If there were anything to replace it with, Japan should fire the UN.
"If there were anything to replace it with, Japan should fire the UN."
This would only be true if the UN produced any utility for Japan at all. Since the UN is uterly useless and a deadweight loss, any reduction in payments to them is a net plus.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at January 22, 2004 11:20 PM