Hatoyama Adresses UN: Including Text and Video Links

On Thursday (US time), Prime Minister Hatoyama addressed the General Debate of the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. The text and video links (great chance to see the Prime Minister speaking English…) are below:

Prime Minister Hatoyama’s Prepared Speech to the UN General Assembly 

Video Link (Real Player)

In today’s speech, Hatoyama again turns to his concept of ‘yuai’ or ‘fraternity’ (that is still a slightly sloppy translation into English…)… and speaks of a ‘New Japan’. Apparently its all the rage these days to talk about countries being renewed and changed in the twinkle of an eye, just because the government has changed. He then spoke consistently throughout the speech of how Japan can work as a ‘bridge’ between the ‘Orient and the Occident’. I’m not sure if he realizes that this is a stance that Japan has been trying to push for decades.

Hatoyama mentions 5 areas in which his government will attempt to work on the international stage. These areas are: responding to the global economic challenge; addressing climate change issues; nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation; peacebuilding, development and poverty; and finally building an East Asian community. I already discussed Hatoyama’s speech at the UN Summit on Climate Change yesterday, so I won’t rehash any of the environment related stuff here. And you can also see my earlier article about Hatoyama’s ideas for an East Asian community here. I should just say on that last point that at least in today’s speech Hatoyama acknowledges that it will be a long and difficult task, which needs to be taken step by step – beginning with Free Trade Agreements and the like. I agree that this is important, but there may be a limit to the cooperation that is possible as long as countries like China insist on clinging to their stifling forms of government…

Since I’ve written at length in the last few days about two of these issues, I will just briefly offer my two cents worth on the other three. Firtly, responding to the global economic challenges.

Economic Challenges

This is going to be a major challenge for the Hatoyama government, and will ultimately determine whether or not this fledgling administration is a success or not. It doesn’t really matter what else they do if they are unable to stimulate the economy and lead it out of recession over their first term in government… Hatoyama himself says that the first challenge is to revive the Japanese economy itself, before anything can be done to help the global economy.

I will be writing a lot more I’m sure in coming weeks about his domestic economic policies, but so far I am underwhelmed. In today’s speech, Hatoyama touts his 5.5 trillion yen annual child allowances as one of his major stimulus initiatives. But this seems to me to be very naive. Expecting consumers to stimulate the economy back into strength by giving them money to spend on their children certainly wouldn’t be my first course of action… He speaks briefly about enhancing Japanese cost competitiveness and revitalizing distribution, as well as the creation of new industries and new markets. Just how he intends to do that is still unclear, but these kind of areas should certainly be a focus of the government if any economic growth is to be sustainable…

Back to the global economy, Hatoyama seems to tone down some of his rhetoric from his August New York Times op-ed, in which he was strongly decrying globalism and market forces as having ‘damaged traditional economic activities and destroyed local communities’. Today he spoke of globalization in terms of both light and shadow, while also making it clear that he is in favor of ‘reigning in’ poverty and economic disparity by not leaving them to market mechanisms. I would like to know in much greater detail how he intends to do this. While his intentions may be good, I have not seen a convincing substitute yet for the imperfect but free market system. Regulation is necessary, but not to excess, and this is a balance that the Hatoyama administration are yet to fully flesh out.

Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation

This is the area of his speech in which I feel that Hatoyama is buying a little too much of Obama’s rhetoric, and not enough common sense. He states that he was inspired by President Obama’s ‘vision of a “world without nuclear weapons”‘. Unfortunately, this is not a vision, but a dream. As Hatoyama goes on to say, North Korea already pose a clear and present threat to not only Japan but to the rest of the world as well – as they sell and assist other nations and possibly even terrorists to obtain and use nuclear weapon technology. Hatoyama says that North Korea’s nuclear testing and missile launches ‘cannot be condoned under any circumstances’. Its hard to disagree. And yet, the international community have been impotent to stop it.

The argument against nuclear weapons is a natural one for Japan, and even an understandable one. They are, as Hatoyama reminds us, the ‘only country which has ever suffered the devastation of atomic bombings’. I can thus understand, agree or disagree, Japan’s stance of not wanting its own nuclear weapons program. However, to suggest that it is possible to completely rid the world of nuclear weapons is naive and utopian in the extreme. This kind of idea usually arises from an unwillingness to delineate those countries that are ‘responsible world citizens’ and those that are not. The world would not blink if New Zealand were to suddenly annouce that they had nuclear weapons. This is because they are a stable and responsible nation. On the other hand, regimes such as North Korea, Iran and others who systematically provoke and lift their noses at the international community pose clear threats. To be unable to make this kind of distinction separates the Hatoyama’s and Obama’s from reality in my humble opinion, and this can be dangerous.

There is no question that the world must take a stand against the use of nuclear weapons. But the way to do this is not for the more responsible nations of the world to disarm, leaving the morally bankrupt as the only holders of said weapons. I know that in Hatoyama’s mind, as countries like the US, Russia and others disarm, the pressure will build on countries like North Korea and Iran to abandon their own programs. But unfortunately things don’t usually work out that way….

Peacebuilding, Development & Poverty

Here Hatoyama spoke of the issues of poverty, infectious diseasaes, health, education, water and sanitation, food and illegal drugs – especially in developing countries. I am all for an increased emphasis on offering real help in these areas. Such help should not, and must not simply be handing out money or goods. This has been tried for decades, and continues to fail. Certainly there should be donations of medical and food supplies for destitute people, but countries in great poverty need to be encouraged through strong international pressure (and condemnation where necessary), to open up their countries, and to allow the free flow of information, knowledge and learning. This is the only way to truly help those that are suffering so much.

Just like issues above regarding nuclear disarmament, there has long been a difficulty in the world community to ‘call a spade a spade’, and to condemn outrageous governments – and take action to assist the people in removing them. I am not calling for military action all across the globe – that would not be prudent or effective. But the leaders of the world’s developed nations need to stop their morally relativistic approach to international relations and be prepared to call out the Zimbabwe’s and the North Korea’s and other such regimes, and take firmer steps to isolate and place intense pressure on their governments.

I know that this is a delicate balance – how hard do you push a government with isolation, when you know that there are innocent people that are suffering. But one of the major problems with the body at which Hatoyama delivered today’s speech is that so many of its members are countries that have massive corruption and dictatorial styles of government. This makes the UN impotent, and makes me feel that words such as Hatoyama’s closing remarks to the effect that “the United Nations has an immense role to play” are merely platitudes. Personally, Iwouldn’t rely on the UN for anything. When you can have a respected nation like the US followed in the speaking roster by the leader of Syria, and everyone just thinks nothing of it, you have an organization that is morally bankrupt, in my humble opinion. I don’t see the path forward for the developing world, or for Japan in particular, to be running through the UN. Rather, I would like to see more smaller groups of interested nations, who share similar ideologies, work together on common goals. Because the fact of the matter is, that nations like North Korea, Zimbabwe, Iran and others have far different goals to mine…. and Japan’s….