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RUEHZU/ASIAN PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION PRIORITY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TOKYO 000372 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR DR. INBODEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2017 
TAGS: PREL EAID KDEM OECD JA
SUBJECT: S/P DIRECTOR KRASNER DISCUSSES PARTNERSHIP FOR 
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE WITH JAPANESE MOFA 
 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires W.Michael Meserve for reasons 1.4(b) a 
nd (d) 
 
¶1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  Meeting with S/P Director Dr. Stephen 
Krasner on January 12, Japanese Foreign Ministry Deputy 
Director General for International Cooperation Hiroshi Fukada 
welcomed the possible participation of the OECD in the 
Partnership for Democratic Governance initiative.  He noted 
that housing the initiative as an OECD Part 2 organization, 
along with possible endorsement of the initiative by the OECD 
Ministers' Meeting or at the G-8 Summit, would improve the 
prospects of securing Japanese funding for the initiative. 
Fukada expressed caution, however, about the potential for a 
negative reaction of possible developing country participants 
in the initiative to the emphasis on the term "democracy." 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  MOFA Deputy Director General for International 
Cooperation Hiroshi Fukada opened the January 12 meeting with 
Dr. Krasner by noting that he had met recently with a number 
of visitors from Washington, including EAP Deputy Assistant 
Secretary Eric John, SCA Deputy Assistant Secretary Evan 
 
SIPDIS 
Feigenbaum, and EB Assistant Secretary Dan Sullivan.  He and 
DAS John had discussed possible U.S.-Japan trilateral 
cooperation with ASEAN, particularly in the areas of human 
trafficking and avian influenza.  During Feigenbaum's 
meetings, there had also been agreement regarding the concept 
of assistance to strengthen border security in Central Asian 
countries along with the possibility of inviting the European 
Union into follow up discussions on economic cooperation. 
Assistant Secretary Sullivan,s meeting, Fukada said, 
centered on follow up to the Strategic Development Alliance 
with respect to focusing on certain countries, notably 
Pakistan. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Dr. Krasner indicated he was exploring how to 
operationalize the ideas set out by Japanese Foreign Minister 
Taro Aso in a recent speech on the "arc of freedom and 
prosperity" and suggested that perhaps the Partnership for 
Democratic Governance (PDG) was one such approach.  Offering 
an update on the Partnership for Democratic Governance (PDG) 
initiative, Dr. Krasner said that he was quite confident that 
the State Department would provide USD 1 million in funding 
at the present time and was seeking USD 5 million on an 
ongoing basis.  He also stressed his discussions with the 
OECD had gone very well and that OECD Secretary-General Angel 
Gurria intended to take a proposal to launch a needs 
assessment regarding OECD participation in the PDG to the 
OECD Council as early as February.  Dr. Krasner added that a 
number of countries had expressed interest in the initiative 
including India, UK, France, Germany, Australia, Canada, and 
Hungary.  Having a developing country like India take part, 
he emphasized, was particularly important.  He noted that the 
initiative had also been discussed with the OAS and the AU. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Japan Welcomes Possible OECD Involvement 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C)  Fukada was very pleased at the possibility of OECD 
involvement in the initiative, noting that such a development 
would facilitate potential Japanese funding.  Dr. Krasner 
indicated that the initiative would be fall under the OECD 
umbrella as a "Part 2" organization, which would allow the 
participation of non-member countries.  Dr. Krasner also 
stressed that it was hoped that the OECD would also cooperate 
with the UN Development Program (UNDP) on the initiative. 
UNDP field staff, he explained, could assist in identifying 
certain needs under the initiative. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Fukada emphasized that the initiative would be 
best channeled through the OECD's Center for Cooperation with 
Non-Members (CCNM).  Japan had already provided funding to 
the Center, he added.  Fukada also raised the UN Democracy 
Fund, noting that the Japanese Foreign Ministry had secured 
USD 10 million in funding from the recently passed 2006 
Supplemental Budget for that U.S.-sponsored initiative as 
well.  It would be necessary, he stressed, for the United 
States to clarify the difference between the UN Democracy 
Fund and the PDG if it wants to gain more Japanese funding 
for the latter. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Differences with UN Democracy Fund 
 
TOKYO 00000372  002 OF 003 
 
 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  The UN Democracy Fund, Dr. Krasner observed, would 
focus most on civil society development.  Democratic 
governance involved three main elements:  elections, civil 
society, and institutions.  The PDG would serve as a tool to 
develop institutions, perhaps the biggest challenge at 
present, Dr. Krasner said.  It would only be successful in 
this regard, however, if political leaders in the target 
countries were willing to use it as such.  That was one 
reason, Dr. Krasner stressed, that the United States hoped 
for co-financing with PDG participating countries as a way of 
clearly demonstrating political support by the recipients. 
In addition, although similar initiatives to date had put 
great stress on training, more was need, Dr. Krasner noted. 
 
¶7.  (C)  Fukada emphasized that OECD participation in the PDG 
would probably need the endorsement of the organizations 
ministerial meeting to be held in May.  Dr. Krasner 
reiterated that OECD Secretary-General would probably put a 
proposal for a needs assessment before the OECD Council in 
February, but added that the United States did not expect 
that all OECD member states would necessarily sign up to the 
initiative.  Fukuda asked whether the PDG would also be added 
as an issue for the G-8 Summit, to which Dr. Krasner replied 
that there are currently no plans to do so.  According to Dr. 
Krasner, even though the Germans, who are hosting the 2007 
summit, had been briefed on the PDG, they seem to have 
largely dropped rule of law and related issues from the 
summit agenda. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
Japan Would Like OECD Ministers, G-8 Endorsement of PDG 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶8.  (C)  Fukada stressed that the Japanese would prefer to 
use forums like the OECD Ministers Meeting and the G-8 to 
gain top-level endorsement of proposals like the PDG as a way 
to garner support internally within the Japanese Government. 
Fukada also noted that many possible participating countries 
in the initiative would have an "allergic response" to its 
use of the term "democracy" in its title.  Dr. Krasner 
indicated that the nomenclature would have to be decided by 
the participants.  The main point, however, was that the OECD 
should be part of a unified initiative; there should not be 
two tracks.  Other questions, Dr. Krasner acknowledged, also 
had yet to be resolved, such as whether there ought to be 
governance qualifications on countries that went to the OECD 
Secretarial looking to participate. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
¶9.  (C)  Fukada replied that he would check further into the 
possibility of OECD's participation, including contacting the 
head of the CCNM who is Fukuda's personal friend.  Fukuda 
also indicated he would coordinate with the Japan 
International Cooperation Agency.  He strongly emphasized the 
need for speed in obtaining senior-level endorsement for the 
initiative at the OECD. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Caution on Asia-Pacific Partnership Idea 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (C)  NSC Senior Director Inboden briefly gave an 
overview of the idea of an Asia-Pacific Democracy Partnership 
(APDP) that would coordinate existing projects in the region 
focusing on democracy and good governance.  This proposal, 
Inboden stressed, could fit well with the concept of the "arc 
of freedom and prosperity" recently put forward by Japanese 
Foreign Minister Aso.  While indicating that the Japanese 
would consider the proposal, Fukada expressed great caution 
about having too much focus on a specific "area."  This posed 
a particular danger of enflaming debate over definitions of 
"democracy" and provoking a negative reaction from many 
countries in the region.  For their part, the Japanese had 
even had an acrimonious debate with the South Koreans about 
how to define democracy, Fukada noted.  Dr. Inboden replied 
that the APDP would focus on responding to countries in the 
region like East Timor that were looking to develop 
democratic institutions and would largely just take advantage 
of activities other donor countries already had in place. 
Some developing countries that had already undergone a 
democratic transition such as Mongolia might also be in a 
position to contribute to the APDP, Dr. Inboden noted. 
 
 
TOKYO 00000372  003 OF 003 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------------- 
Japanese Support for Governance, Democracy Already Significant 
--------------------------------------------- ----------------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU)  MOFA Aid Policy Planning Division Director Naoki 
Ito passed out a paper showing various Japanese government 
projects on governance already underway.  According to Ito, 
the Foreign Ministry had spent USD 120 million during JFY 
2005 (April 2005-March 2006) on democracy projects. It noted 
that the categories of these projects fit well with the 
topics covered in Dr. Inboden's APDP proposal.  In 
particular, the Japanese had funded a substantial amount of 
training aimed at improving governance.  Dr. Inboden 
acknowledged that the Japanese activities corresponded well 
to the APDP priorities.  Director Ito also mentioned that 
MOFA,s grassroots grants, which are administered by Japan's 
embassies but approved by MOFA headquarters, also strengthen 
democratic institutions, e.g., local NGOs, local authorities 
and civic organizations.  MOFA funds approximately USD 160 
million grassroots grants each year, Ito noted. 
 
¶12. (SBU) NOTE: In a separate meeting earlier in the day, 
Deputy Director General for Foreign Policy Yasumasa Nagamine 
cautioned Dr. Krasner that while the PDG concept sounds 
interesting, in general the Japanese prefer to invest their 
ODA funds in "national flag up" projects in which recipient 
nations clearly recognize who (Japan) is coming to their 
assistance.  This is because Japan's first priority in 
granting ODA is to advance its own foreign policy and 
national interests.  In addition, Japan continues to view the 
issue of sovereignty as important.  It is therefore less 
likely to want to become involved in assistance projects that 
involve non-governmental, private, or international 
organizations, rather than national governments.  For these 
reasons, Nagamine cautioned that the PDG concept might be a 
hard sell with parts of the Japanese bureaucracy.  END NOTE. 
 
 
¶13.  (SBU)  Participants: 
 
Japanese Participants 
--------------------- 
 
Hiroshi Fukada 
Deputy Director General 
International Cooperatiion Bureau, MOFA 
 
Naoki Ito 
Director, Aid Policy Planning Division, MOFA 
 
U.S. Participants 
----------------- 
 
Stephen Krasner 
Director, Policy Planning Staff, State Department 
 
William Inboden 
Senior Director for Policy Planning, NSC 
 
James Green 
Policy Planning Staff, State Department 
 
Charles Aanenson 
AID Counselor, Embassy Tokyo 
 
Evan Reade 
First Secretary, Embassy Tokyo 
 
Chris Wurzel 
First Secretary, Embassy Tokyo (notetaker) 
 
¶14. (U) This cable was cleared by S/P Director Krasner. 
MESERVE