Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06TOKYO4752
2006-08-18 08:20:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Tokyo
Cable title:  

MOFA OFFICIAL ON REINVIGORATING APEC

Tags:  ECON EAID PREL APECO JA 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHKO #4752/01 2300820
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 180820Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5548
INFO RUEHZU/ASIAN PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 8089
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1912
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0637
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 5000
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2908
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 004752 

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SENSITIVE
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FOR EAP/J, EAP/EP AND WHA
STATE PASS USTR FOR CUTLER/NEUFFER
USTR ALSO FOR BEEMAN/MEYERS
PARIS FOR USOECD
GENEVA FOR USTR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EAID PREL APECO JA
SUBJECT: MOFA OFFICIAL ON REINVIGORATING APEC

REF: A) STATE 121653

B) TOKYO 4260

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 004752

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

FOR EAP/J, EAP/EP AND WHA
STATE PASS USTR FOR CUTLER/NEUFFER
USTR ALSO FOR BEEMAN/MEYERS
PARIS FOR USOECD
GENEVA FOR USTR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EAID PREL APECO JA
SUBJECT: MOFA OFFICIAL ON REINVIGORATING APEC

REF: A) STATE 121653

B) TOKYO 4260


1. (SBU) Summary: Japan agrees, in principle, on the need to
institutionally strengthen APEC but believes more discussion is
needed to determine the most effective way forward, according to
Japan's APEC Senior Official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(MOFA). Acknowledging the prospect of pressure to bring India into
APEC once the moratorium on new membership ends, the official
speculated that one approach to the challenge of APEC expansion
might be to consider a variety of new voting procedures, such as
World Bank "constituency" voting, to avoid a further weakening of
the organization. He also agreed that having a permanent
secretariat would be one way to keep the organization focused but

SIPDIS
indicated that Japan has yet to put together a formal position on
APEC reorganization. End Summary


2. (SBU) Econcouns called on incoming MOFA APEC Senior Official
Masashi Mizukami to welcome him to his new position and to open a
dialogue on APEC issues in advance of next month's Senior Officials'
Meeting (SOM) in Vietnam. Mizukami, one of the Ministry's top
Spanish language experts, serves concurrently as APEC Senior
Official and Deputy Director General of the Bureau for Latin
American and Caribbean Affairs. In this dual role, Mizukami has a
good perspective on both halves of the APEC membership. Previously,
Mizukami served at Japan's Permanent Mission to the UN where he
covered ECOSOC affairs, an experience that, he admitted, left him
frustrated with large, unwieldy international economic
institutions.

Need to "Stabilize" APEC as an Institution
--------------


3. (SBU) Mizukami said Japan "sympathizes" with recent U.S. and
Australian proposals to strengthen the APEC Secretariat but had yet
to put together a specific proposal of its own. Speaking
informally, he observed that APEC should operate more like the G-8,
which strikes the right balance between achieving "tangible results"
and focusing on the specific interests of successive host nations

(e.g. Russian energy or British interest in sub-Saharan Africa.)
APEC, by contrast, with its wide variety of members, ends up
drifting in different directions depending on the particular
interests of each year's host economy. A permanent secretariat,
Mizukami asserted, would help APEC "stabilize" its agenda.


4. (SBU) However, before Japan could agree to any specific
proposal on reorganization, it hoped for a detailed discussion of
how the new structure would be financed. "We need a process," he
emphasized, "that systematically works through the details."
Although he did not categorically rule out an increased Japanese
contribution to a reinvigorated organization, Mizukami noted that
the APEC calendar and GOJ's budget cycle were out of sync so that,
without Prime Ministerial-level commitment to a supplemental budget
request, or taking money from a related account, the GOJ would be
unable to commit additional resources to APEC before FY-2008 (i.e.
April 2008.) Normally, ministries' budget requests for the FY
beginning the following April need to be into MOF at the end of
August each year. Nevertheless, he will be discussing APEC with his
MOFA superiors hinting that he may have more concrete ideas on
strengthening the organization at the November leaders' meeting.

Expanded Membership Brings Challenges
--------------


5. (SBU) Mizukami also offered informal thoughts on the
implications of expanded APEC membership should the current
moratorium expire next year. He noted with a smile that his dual
responsibility for Latin America had opened him to entreaties for
Japanese support for APEC membership from a number of countries in
the region, including Panama and Colombia. He said he demurred, of
course, but emphasized this was a challenge APEC would have to face
sooner or later.


6. (SBU) The biggest challenge though was India, whose accession,
if agreed to, would have immediate implications for how the
organization functions. Mizukami stated that an explicit condition
of India's accession should be its agreement not to block future
consensus on entry of its South Asian neighbors. This led him to
muse briefly on whether APEC should consider the possibility of
introducing constituent-based voting procedures as at the World Bank

TOKYO 00004752 002 OF 002


(i.e., small countries in a given group are represented by one of
them, perhaps on a rotating basis, depending on the issues up for
decision; the summit would be open to all members.) Such a variety
of voting mechanisms would, he asserted, allow the organization to
expand its membership without fatally damaging its effectiveness.


7. (SBU) Comment: Mizukami's past experience working with ECOSOC
clearly left him disillusioned about the effectiveness of large,
unwieldy international economic organizations that lack clear
centralized direction. Although in this meeting he was largely
presenting his personal views and not considered MOFA positions,
Mizukami is new to the APEC community and the fact that he is
willing to consider new approaches to the organization's challenges
bodes well for productive engagement in future discussions with USG
officials.

SCHIEFFER