JAPAN UNLIKELY TO CONTRIBUTE TO SPECIAL TRIBUNAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 004374 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR IO/UNP REINEMEYER AND NEA/ELA DONICK E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2017 TAGS: PREL PTER UNSC LE JA SUBJECT: JAPAN UNLIKELY TO CONTRIBUTE TO SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON REF: STATE 129919 Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer for reasons 1.4(b) and (d ) ¶1. (C) Japan is disinclined to make financial contributions to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, although it is still considering a U.N. request to nominate judges for the tribunal, according to MOFA First Middle East Division Director Hideo Sato. His remarks were confirmed separately by U.N. Policy Division Principal Deputy Director Kentaro Fujimoto, who told Embassy Tokyo Political Officer "it would be very difficult" for Japan to contribute funds to the tribunal at this time. ¶2. (C) Sato, in a meeting with Deputy Political Counselor, reiterated that Japan recognizes the importance of bringing stability to Lebanon, noted that Japan had provided three police officers to assist in the investigation of the Hariri assassination, and said that the Ministry of Justice is currently considering a U.N. request to nominate judges to serve on the tribunal. He expects a decision on this to be made sometime next week. However, Sato continued, given Lebanon's relative wealth and Japan's tight budget situation, it is not possible to justify financial contributions to the tribunal at this time. (NOTE: When the creation of the tribunal was initially being contemplated last November, Japan raised concerns about the source of funding, expressing a clear desire to see it paid for by voluntary contributions. END NOTE.) Schieffer