ed UNSC seat for Japan?

Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, has again declared an all-out bid to become a veto-wielding permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

In a speech to the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York last week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that Japan aspires to join the Security Council as a nonpermanent member at the election next year, and called for reform of the UNSC. ``Japan will work even harder than ever to bring about a realization of the principles that the U.N. has set forth. Japan is a nation that implements its pledges without fail,’’ said the conservative leader.

Abe’s speech is taken as meaning that the neighboring country will begin a more stepped-up campaign to gain a permanent seat along with its G-4 partners ― Germany, Brazil and India ― under the pretext of reforming the U.N., which will mark its 70th anniversary next year.

Abe prefaced his speech by pledging to extend additional assistance of $40 million to help counter the recent Ebola outbreak in what appears to be an attempt to win support among African nations. He has also travelled to nearly 50 countries around the world since coming to office in December 2012 to pitch for Japan’s permanent seat bid.

There has been a lot of change in the international community over the last 70 years, and it’s not without reason that Japan and other countries are calling for the international body to undergo a process of reform. Yet increasing the number of veto-wielding permanent members needs much prudence because it will constrain the activities of the Security Council. So it might be better to increase the council’s non-permanent membership.

Most importantly, it’s doubtful if Japan deserves a permanent seat, given its retrogressive moves since Abe’s inauguration. The U.N. was founded in the aftermath of World War II and much soul-searching within the international community at that time regarding Japan’s actions during the conflict. So it’s a prerequisite for Japan to show that it has cut itself off from its misguided past, but this seems not to be the case for Japan.

While Germany has become a completely different country politically and culturally through thorough self-reflection on past wrongs, Japan has glossed over its aggression and brazenly glorified its war criminals, as seen in Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in April. More recently, the island nation went a step further by denying the forced mobilization of Korean and other Asian women into sexual slavery during World War II.

It defies our understanding that Japan wishes to be a global leader at a time when it has not won the hearts and minds of its neighbors. The first thing that Tokyo should do is resolve its conflicts with Seoul and Beijing.