Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Japan's Diplomatic Double Whammy: Hosting TICAD-IV and the G8 Hokkaido Tōyako Summit

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 32; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10371397.2012.708395

1469-9338

Hugo Dobson,

International Development and Aid

Abstract In 2008 Japan hosted the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) and the Group of Eight (G8) Summit. This coincidence provided a high-profile diplomatic opportunity within both Japan's relations with Africa and its summit diplomacy to shape regional and global agendas respectively and, to these ends, the Japanese government sought to connect the two international meetings. While Japan maintained its commitment to international society by fostering South–South dialogue and high-level contact between the G8 and Africa through these forums, the linkage of the two 2008 events was dominated by Japanese efforts to gain African endorsement for its ‘Cool Earth 50’ policy on global climate change. In the event, African leaders resisted Japan's efforts to place priority on discussion of climate change. The government also hoped that the conjunction of the two meetings would improve perceptions of, and interest in, Africa among the Japanese public, but evidence suggests little was achieved in this regard. Notes 1For the sake of clarity, G6 will be used to refer to the first summit meeting of the leaders of France, Italy, Japan, the US, the UK and West Germany held at Rambouillet in 1975; G7 will be used to refer to the period from 1976 to 1997 after Canada joined the original six; and G8 will be used more generally but also to refer to the specific period since Russia officially became the eighth member at the 1998 Birmingham Summit. 2MOFA, ‘Special Address by HE Mr Yasuo Fukuda’. Fukuda resigned before he was able to attend the United Nations General Assembly. 3‘Ex-Japan Premier Mori Urges’. 4Ibuse, ‘2008-nen, Nihon wa sekai no nagare o shudō dekiru ka’, 48. 5Yoshida, Afurika kaihatsu enjo no shinkadai. 6Interviews (14–17 September 2009) and email communications (22–24 November 2011) with anonymous senior MOFA bureaucrats. 7‘TICAD kiwame “Nichi-Afurika samitto”’. 8Ōbayashi and Ishida, Afurika seisaku shimin hakusho 2007. 9Kitera, ‘Atarashii Afurika kaihatsu no rekishi ga hajimaru’. 10Minamishima, ‘Fukuda shushō, 15-pun kaidan 40-kai’; ‘Afurika kaigi, Yokohama sengen’. 11Lehman, ‘Japan's Foreign Aid Policy to Africa’, 423. 12‘Japan Mulling Development Assistance Cuts'. 14MOFA, ‘TICAD Tenth Anniversary Declaration’. 13Ampiah, ‘Japan and the Development of Africa’. 15Hook et al., Japan’s International Relations, 380. 16Lehman, ‘Japan's Foreign Aid Policy to Africa’, 427. 17Ibid., 440. 19MOFA, ‘Special Address by HE Mr Yasuo Fukuda’. 18Ibid., 423. 20Kitera, ‘Atarashii Afurika kaihatsu no rekishi ga hajimaru’, 34. 21Igarashi and Minamishima, ‘Afurika shien’. 22Kirton, ‘Summit Achievement Grades'; Dobson, Japan and the G7/8, 176–184. 23Ibid., 173–175. 24Dobson, ‘Managing the Medusa’. 25Dobson, The Group of 7/8. 26Kaneko and Tamagawa, ‘“Tōyako samitto ni seika han’ei o”’. 27G8 Information Centre, Tokyo Economic Declaration (emphasis added). 30Lehman, ‘Japan's Foreign Aid Policy to Africa’, 434. 28Email communications with anonymous senior MOFA bureaucrats (22–24 November 2011). 29Kataoka, ‘TICAD purosesu to Nihon no tai Afurika gaikō (jō)’, 21. 31Ibid., 438. 32MOFA, ‘Yokohama Declaration’. 33‘Hokkaidō Tōyako samitto tokushū’. 34‘Shibiru G8 de hihan uketa Nihon’. The Civil G8 is an umbrella organisation by which a number of CSGs and NGOs coordinate with each other and engage with the G8. 35‘Nihon, Afurika jūshi zenmen ni’; ‘Tōyako samitto – Afurika shunō’; ‘Tōyako samitto – Afurika shien e renkei’. 36MOFA, ‘Yokohama Declaration’ (emphasis added). 37Ibid. 38G8 Information Centre, Development and Africa. 39Ibid. 40Ibid. 41Oda, ‘Afurika kaihatsu kaigi e no kitai’, 17. 42MOFA, ‘Yokohama Declaration’ (emphasis added). 43‘Tōyako samitto kaimaku’; ‘Tōyako samitto nokosareta kadai’. 44‘Tōyako samitto kakudai kaigō’. 45Shirato, ‘Hokkaidō Tōyako samitto’. 46Elliott, ‘Italy Has Worst Record’; Elliott, ‘G8 Accused’. 47‘Tōyako samitto nokosareta kadai’. 48‘Nihon, Afurika jūshi zenmen ni’; Kaneko and Tamagawa, ‘Tōyako samitto ni seika han'ei o’. 49Email communications with anonymous senior MOFA bureaucrats (22 November 2011). 50Minamishima, ‘Fukuda shushō, 15-pun kaidan 40-kai’. 51Kaneko, ‘Afurika 16-kakoku shunō’. 52MOFA, ‘Yokohama Declaration’. 53MOFA, ‘Remarks by HE Mr Chiaki Takahashi’. 54Megata, ‘TICAD ni takusu kokueki’. 55‘Yokohama-shi ga eranda 10 dainyūsu’. 56Kataoka, ‘TICAD purosesu to Nihon no tai Afurika gaikō (ge)’, 109. 57‘The Significance of NGOs is Often Emphasized’. 58Yamanishi, ‘Sanka 85-nin, pasu 3-mai’; ‘NGO pasu seigen, gaimushō ga kanwa hōshin’.