ABSTRACT

Development assistance is and has always been a powerful tool in relations with many of Japan’s Asian neighbors as well as the developing world in general. It is a policy instrument that can be used for various purposes such as stimulating economic growth, establishing good diplomatic relations and managing the Japan-US relations. In a more insecure world and as foreign aid in general is becoming more security oriented this is the way Japanese assistance is also going and where it actually has a long tradition. Lacking the capability to sends troops in fighting positions abroad, due to constitutional restraints, ODA (Official Development Assistance) has since the end of the 1970s been one way for Japan to contribute to international society. In the 2015 Development Cooperation Charter it states that development cooperation should be used to make ‘proactive contribution to peace’. Development cooperation shall be pursued bearing Japan’s national security strategy in mind. In this chapter we show how the new whole of government approach envisioned in the charter in the long run is likely to make development cooperation an integrated part of a more coherent Japanese foreign policy.