Nobel Laureate Arias Lauds Japan's 50-year Peace, Condemns Arms Buildup excerpt
"Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias Sanchez says Japan's record of peace and non-aggression for the past 50 years gives it moral power to help re-orient United Nations peace efforts in the 21st century. Arias, former president of Costa Rica, won the 1987 Nobel award by brokering peace talks to resolve Central American conflicts. He recently spoke in Japan on the role of post-war Japan and the United Nations, marking its 50th year. |
Former Costa Rican President, Oscar Arias Sanchez, in Tokyo, Japan 1995 |
Japan's bid for permanent membership on the U.N. Security Council could be a platform for exercising moral leadership, said Arias, promoter of a global demilitarization fund to reduce the lucrative global arms trade. Though without a military, Japan's Special Defense Force is deployable, and Japan allocates more of its budget than ever before to "defense-preparedness" as foreign pressure increases for it to share in worldwide defense operations. Arias noted that the U.N. Charter was drafted to avoid a resurgence of war by the Axis Powers, including Japan, or the concentration of power in any one nation, making collective security and interdependence among nations the norm. Likewise, the Japanese Constitution espouses similar models of peace and harmonious coexistence. Japan promised to never again engage in military aggression and adopted a policy of not exporting arms. Unfortunately, Arias said, reality often fell short of ideals, with the U.N. Security Council, a bipolar battlefield between East and West, unable to prevent war in Korea, Vietnam and nearly 150 other locales around the world."
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