Time to get back to business

本来の責務

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dismissed them after the debacle over the barring of two nongovernmental organizations from a recent international conference on Afghan reconstruction threatened to derail Diet debate over a crucial budget. The dispute exploded one week ago in the Diet when Mrs. Tanaka, Mr. Nogami and an LDP heavyweight, Mr. Muneo Suzuki, gave differing explanations over who was responsible for preventing the two Japanese NGOs from taking part in the conference in Tokyo.

In her parliamentary response, Mrs. Tanaka said that Mr. Nogami had told her the ministry barred the two NGOs, which had publicly criticized government policy on Afghanistan, under pressure from Mr. Suzuki, who once served as parliamentary foreign vice minister and has since kept influential ties with the Foreign Ministry. In subsequent testimony, Mr. Nogami contradicted the foreign minister by saying that Mr. Suzuki had not influenced the ministry's decision. Mr. Suzuki also denied any involvement, and in an apparent expression of his responsibility for his role in the fiasco, he offered to resign as chairman of the Lower House Steering Committee.

There was no way of learning the truth from the exchanges between opposition-party questioners and Mrs. Tanaka and her deputy. But ambiguous statements by Mr. Nogami and his aide obviously provoked suspicion among the opposition parties that Mr. Suzuki may have played a questionable role in encouraging those parties to intensify their offensive against the Koizumi administration and the governing parties.

A heightened sense of crisis over this development apparently prompted Mr. Koizumi to take action, even if belatedly, to settle the fiasco so that the Diet could resume its normal business. But he still deserves blame for his failure to take a decisive step sooner. The "family quarrel" within the Foreign Ministry was not new, with the ministry having been mired in an internal struggle for the past nine months.

It all started with discord between Mrs. Tanaka and her subordinates over the handling of an embezzlement scandal involving a secret diplomatic fund. The ministry took disciplinary actions against 16 officials — to the dissatisfaction of Mrs. Tanaka who took office after those measures had been unveiled. Her attempt at taking tougher measures met with fierce resistance from ranking officials. The face-off continued afterward, even after Mr. Nogami took over from his predecessor as vice minister.

This unworthy dispute has damaged the Japanese public's confidence in the government and has also badly hurt Japan's international reputation. All Japanese people must regret the fact that the top-ranking ministry officials have tarnished the role Japan played in bringing the recent Afghan reconstruction conference to a successful end. The fiasco also highlighted the Japanese government's poor recognition of the positive contribution NGOs make to international society.

The dispute raised several important questions. Why have Foreign Ministry bureaucrats failed to keep up their traditional integrity (or is it that they do no longer possess such a quality)? Why do they yield to pressure (or verbal intervention) from politicians like Mr. Suzuki, who have no official position in the ministry? Moreover, many Japanese people felt that with their deliberate use of ambiguous expressions in their Diet testimony, the bureaucrats looked as though they were trying to pass responsibility on to the foreign minister — the purpose, of course, was to shield Mr. Suzuki from any pressure.

But it is Mr. Koizumi who should be blamed most severely for all this. For months, he has remained a virtual observer. Of course, he has been bound by many concerns. For example, he must have feared that dismissing Mrs. Tanaka would encourage the anti-Koizumi intraparty factions to step up moves against him, and that his public popularity would have suffered a sharp decline. Note Mrs. Tanaka's contribution to the extraordinarily high popularity of his Cabinet. With Mrs. Tanaka gone, the Koizumi government will lose some dynamism. But he has to make up for the loss with stronger efforts to implement his policy pledges.

The Japan Times: Jan. 31, 2002
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      国会答弁で田中氏は、政府のアフガニスタン政策を公に批判したNGO二団体が排除されたのは鈴木氏の圧力によるものだったと述べた。しかし野上氏は、鈴木氏からの圧力はなかったと述べ、田中氏の答弁を否定した。鈴木氏は一切の関与を否定したが、騒ぎの責任をとって衆院議院運営委員長を辞任した。

      野党側質問者と田中氏、野上氏のやり取りからは真相はわからなかった。野上氏などの外務官僚の曖昧な答弁は、鈴木氏が何らかの役割を演じたという疑惑を抱かせ、野党は小泉政権と与党を激しく攻撃した。事態に危機感を抱いた小泉首相は、混乱の収拾と国会審議の正常化に乗り出したが、もっと早急に断固とした措置を取るべきだった。外務省のお家騒動は今に始まったことではなく、外交機密費流用問題に関する田中氏と部下の間の軋轢に端を発したものだ。外務省は職員16名を処分したが、処分発表後に就任した田中氏には納得のいかない措置だった。田中氏はより厳しい措置を取ろうとして省内の強い反発を招いた。対立は野上氏が事務次官として就任した後も続いた。

      省内の対立は国民の政府への信頼を失わせ、日本の国際的信用を傷つけた。アフガン復興支援会議の成功に日本が果たした役割を外務省高官が台無しにしたことを国民は嘆いているはずだ。また、NGOの国際社会への貢献に対する政府の認識不足も露呈した。

      ここで重要な問題が提起される。外務省官僚はなぜ、官僚としての誠実さを保てないのか。鈴木氏のような省外の議員の圧力や介入になぜ屈するのか。故意に曖昧な表現を使った国会答弁で、官僚が鈴木氏をかばって外相に責任を押しつけているかのような印象を受けた人は多いはずだ。

      しかしこれらすべての出来事の責任を負うべきは、何か月にもわたり事態を傍観していた小泉首相だ。田中外相を解任すれば、反小泉派が勢いを得、内閣支持率が急降下するのではないかという危惧を首相は抱いていたに違いない。田中氏を失った今、小泉政権の勢いはそがれるだろうが、公約を果たすため、首相はさらなる努力を傾注して失地を回復せねばならない。

The Japan Times Weekly
Feb. 9, 2002
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