Diplomat’s diplomat |

By Bill Lee

Japan recently decided to withdraw its PKO contingent from Sudan because of the deteriorating security situation there. Japan’s first PKO personnel were sent to Angola and Cambodia in 1992, but the initial destination for a Japanese PKO could have been Lebanon way back in 1958. At that time, Lebanon was in crisis because of the conflict between Christians and Muslims, and the United States actually landed thousands of its troops in Lebanon to prop up the pro-Western government. The situation became very tense as troops from the Soviet Union were also sent into the region to support the opposition and moves by Syria and Egypt, Soviet clients. The situation could have escalated into World War III. Fortunately, the United Nations intervened to resolve the stand-off.

Important to the UN’s efforts were contributions by the Japanese delegation, which drafted a proposal for resolving the crisis. The plan called for the establishment of a cordon sanitaire to separate the contending parties. The idea for the cordon sanitaire was accepted, and in gratitude, then-UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold asked Koto Matsudaira, the head of the Japanese UN mission, to have Japan send personnel to monitor the truce corridor. Believing it a great honor for Japan, Matsudaira quickly accepted the request. However, as soon as the request reached Foreign Ministry headquarters in Tokyo, officials realized that the dispatch of SDF personnel would be considered a violation of the Constitution, and the request was rejected. Moreover, Japanese newspapers got hold of the story and harshly criticized Matsudaira. In the end, Matsudaira was scorned by the government and the media as an unredeemed rightist.

Ironically, Matsudaira was one of Japan’s ablest diplomats ever. A very international (and rich) man, he received a doctorate from a French university at the end of the 1920s, and developed good ties with chateaux in Bordeaux. Matsudaira was the ambassador who started the tradition of grand dinner parties hosted by Japan’s UN mission in New York. At that time (1958), Japan was vying to become a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council for the first time. The competition was very stiff, with Yugoslavia expected to get the seat. However, skilled at election campaigning, Matsudaira, who had briefly quit MOFA and run in a Lower House election in Tokyo, won votes, partly through his dinner parties. Making sure his guests were indulged with fine wines from Bordeaux, Matsudaira would put original Hiroshige ukiyo-e paintings under the napkins of the wives of the invited UN ambassadors from other countries. When they looked under their napkins and saw the beautiful prints, the wives would squeal with delight, and then, presumably urge their husbands to vote for Japan. Apparently, it worked, for Japan succeeded in getting voted onto the Security Council. Naturally, Matsudaira had other talents, such as his ability in French and Spanish, which helped him get votes from Francophone Africa and Latin America. Matsudaira was the ideal international diplomat, but he ended up rather scorned by Japan — he said he had friends only outside of Japan — and he was also critical of Japanese diplomats, whom he accused of lacking imagination, a trait that continues to this day. Matsudaira later became Japan’s ambassador to India and Bhutan.

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