TOKYO, Feb 22: Japan, the second largest financial contributor to the United Nations, on Sunday demanded reforms that would give it a bigger say in the world body.
"There are new threats, but the United Nations as an organisation remains as it was when it was first established," Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi told reporters after meeting the visiting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Kawaguchi used even stronger words during the meeting, telling Annan that Japan believed in "no taxation without representation", a government official told reporters later.
Japan has long sought a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, whose five members with veto power - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - have held their seats since the end of World War Two.
Tokyo pays nearly as much as Washington and more than the other permanent members of the Council, which can make decisions on war and peace that are mandatory for UN members to follow.
The government official said Kawaguchi did not specifically demand a seat on the Council, but said it was not fair that Japan provided so much money for key UN peacekeeping operations without having a say over how the funds are spent.
Japan has long set UN cooperation as a pillar of its diplomacy along with its alliance with the United States, but there has been growing dissatisfaction among policy makers over what Tokyo sees as an excessive financial burden.
Japan's Foreign Ministry said last month it planned to cut its financial contribution to the United Nations, although officials added that the move did not mean Tokyo was distancing itself diplomatically from the world body.
Japan plans to cut its contribution in 2006, perhaps to around 15 percent, when the United Nations next reviews the share each member country pays as dues. Japan will pay $280 million, or 19.5 percent of the total dues, in 2004, a close second behind the United States, which is to contribute 22 per cent.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi threw his support behind US President George W. Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq despite the lack of a clear UN mandate.
Critics said the decision meant Tokyo had given the international body short shrift, but officials have said there was no change in Japan's policy of putting priority on the United Nations and seeking a permanent Security Council seat.
Most UN members agree that the council should be reformed, but debate has stalled, with most permanent members unwilling to rush to weaken their own positions. -Reuters
