Japan is withholding its ¥4.4 billion contributions to UNESCO for the current fiscal year. While the government is believed to be trying to use the unpaid contribution as leverage in its call for improving the operation of the United Nations body, such a move could weaken Tokyo's position not only in the organization but in the broader international community. If the government is unhappy with the way the organization is run, it should present rational proposals to improve the operation from within instead of by resorting to financial pressures. It should quickly provide the due funding.
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida is mum on why the funding to UNESCO is being withheld, but apparently behind the move is the government's displeasure over the U.N. body's decision in October last year to include China-submitted documents about the 1937 Nanking Massacre in its Memory of the World list. Shortly after the decision, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Tokyo will consider halting financial contributions to UNESCO. The government also lodged a protest with China's Foreign Ministry via the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, saying China "should not unnecessarily use the arena of UNESCO for a political purpose."
Another possible factor behind the suspended funding is an upcoming examination by UNESCO's International Advisory Committee of documents related to the issue of "comfort women" forced into frontline brothels for Japanese troops before and during World War II, which had been submitted by civic groups in China and South Korea for inclusion in the Memory of the World list.