Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, fresh from a historic election victory, plans to go to New York this week for a United Nations summit due to take up Tokyo’s cherished UN reform bid, the government said on Monday.
Koizumi is ”making consideration in the direction of attending it”, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the government spokesperson, told a news conference.
It is not clear whether he will hold bilateral talks with his close ally United States President George Bush or other leaders, said Hosoda, who before the election had said it looked ”difficult” for Koizumi to attend the summit.
Japanese media said Koizumi is likely to leave Tokyo on Thursday and return the following day.
The Japanese representative is to deliver a speech late on Thursday at the three-day summit of more than 170 world leaders, which will consider proposals for reforming the UN on its 60th anniversary.
It has been a long-time diplomatic goal of Tokyo to get a permanent seat on the powerful Security Council, whose structure reflects the power balance at the end of World War II.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Sunday that Minister of Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura will attend the summit and announce that Japan will cut its contribution to the UN if it fails to win a permanent seat.
Japan is on a joint bid with Brazil, Germany and India for permanent seats.
But the drive has hit a snag, with the US backing only Japan’s candidacy and China adamantly opposed to Tokyo joining the Security Council.
Koizumi’s Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan for all but 10 months since 1955, won 296 seats or a record 61,7% of the all-important Lower House of Parliament in Sunday’s election. — AFP
