Gulf War Costs: Japanese Contribution (Hansard, 20 March 1991)

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (The Earl of Caithness)
My Lords, Japan has made two contributions. The first was of approximately 2 billion dollars, of which the United Kingdom received 50 million dollars. The second was of 9 billion dollars.

§ Lord Annan
My Lords, does the noble Earl consider that to be an adequate contribution from that country when compared with the contribution made by Germany, having regard to the fact that Germany has faced great financial difficulties over unification and also given very considerable amounts to governments in Eastern Europe? Surely the Foreign Secretary should make representations to the Japanese Government suggesting that they could possibly now do more.

The Earl of Caithness
No, my Lords, I disagree with the noble Lord. I think that it is a very generous contribution.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, does the noble Earl agree that it would be more equitable if contributions from Japan and other non-participating countries were made to the coalition under the auspices of the United Nations as a whole and were then divided between the participating countries pro rata according to their individual costs?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, we believe that it is for the countries concerned to announce their contributions to whichever country or group of countries they wish. The Japanese contributions have been made to the Gulf peace fund.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, can the Minister say how that will work in practice? Will it be beneficial to the United Kingdom and what is allotted to us? The United Kingdom has made a very substantial contribution to the Gulf conflict and we must defend our interests in this matter.

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, we certainly seek to defend our interests in this matter. So far the Japanese have made two contributions. We know how the apportionment of the first one was made and out of that 2 billion US dollars we received 50 million dollars. We do not know the apportionment for the second tranche.

§ Lord Harmar-Nicholls
My Lords, in the context of the situation covered by these contributions, does my noble friend agree that it is more valuable to be able to form a judgment on the nature of a relationship by a spontaneous and voluntary contribution? Is that not better than to give the impression of wanting to dig something out of somebody with a kind of force?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, we are grateful for any and all contributions that have been made to the coalition forces and in particular to the United Kingdom. We are particularly grateful for what the Japanese have done.

§ Lord Tordoff
My Lords, despite the rebuff that I received from the noble Earl last week, can I draw his attention to the possibility that if the Japanese are reluctant to pay into our coffers they may be prepared to pay some money into the coffers of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, the Japanese have done an enormous amount for the refugees, as the noble Lord will know. It was with Japanese money that a number of the planes were chartered in the first place.

§ Lord Mellish
My Lords, may I assume that the Minister has in front of him a list of contributions made by various countries including Japan? If so, can he say something about the contributions that have been made by some of our European colleagues, notably Belgium and Holland, especially as they have a lot of old chat in telling us what to do now?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, the noble Lord is absolutely right. I have a list of contributions from other countries. I covered that in an Answer last week. The Question on the Order Paper is about Japan.

§ Lord Annan
My Lords, does the noble Earl agree that we are somewhat lily-livered in our approach to this matter? It seems to me that the spectacle of the Foreign Secretary sitting with cap in hand waiting for pennies to be dropped into it, after which he touches his forelock, is not the way in which the Foreign Office should regard this matter. Do we not owe it to our country to make representations about the costs that we have incurred and the comparatively small amounts being paid by countries which have made no contribution at all to the fighting?

The Earl of Caithness
My Lords, I would agree with the noble Lord if it were true that the Foreign Secretary was standing with his cap in his hand ready to touch his forelock. That is not the true situation.