Love Letter from Brussels
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Pacta Sunt Servanda (agreements must be kept) (No.32)
February 29, 2016
A Perfect Day in Brussels
February is almost over. In Brussels there seems to be occasionally a blue sky spreading out, but when this is the case, it is still quite cold and the temperature barely goes above 0 degrees. However, in most cases, the Brussels’ weather of “light rain followed by cloudy weather followed by showers” continues. Under the gloomy ash grey sky, the temperature is still hanging around the single digits every day.
However, if you look very closely, you can feel a hint of spring approaching. When taking a stroll in the weekend, the daffodils and hyacinths are coloring the lawns and the pinkish flowers of the old cherry trees in the old residential areas are ever so slightly starting to bloom. The seasons are certainly starting to shift. The sky is grey as ever but every day we tell ourselves to be a little bit more patient.
A Perfect Day for a Seminar
In the meantime, following slowdown of the pace during the end of last year and the beginning of this year, the frequency of various seminars and round table talks has started to gradually rise again. 2016 is the year during which the 150 Years of Friendship between Japan and Belgium is cerebrated and thanks to your support, there are plenty of related events. At the same time, my work as Public Diplomacy Ambassador to Europe has also started to increase.
At the end of January, there was a meeting in Brussels of those involved in policy planning in major countries both from governments and think tanks. From February 12 until 14, there was the Munich security meeting and just like last year, I attended as an observer. One day prior to this, there was also an official side event concerning NATO’s policy on Asia, where I was able to attend as one of the panelists. I also had the opportunity to speak about concrete ways for cooperation during a session of a workshop held in Brussels by the King’s College in London on February 24, where the possibility of cooperation between Japan and NATO in the field of maritime security was discussed.Pacta Sunt Servanda (agreements must be kept)
After that, on February 26, I was invited to a seminar titled “Law of the Sea and Maritime Security” in Berlin co-hosted by the Japanese-German Center in Berlin and the German-Japanese Association of Jurists, where I talked about the point of view of Japan concerning “Maritime Governance” before coming back to Brussels a few days ago.
In many ways I learned a great deal at this seminar. First of all, I was impressed by the sheer amount of interest. To be frank, one of the biggest challenges when having a discussion on Asia in Europe is how to make people interested in this topic and how to make them participate. Frankly speaking, when I first saw the topic of this seminar, I expected the event to be a small scale gathering but this was not the case. The Japanese-German Center venue, which can accommodate more than 100 people, was almost packed throughout a full day event. I think that one of the reasons for this is that the event was a big hit among the legal specialists of the Association of Jurists. This also confirmed, in my view, that the events which are currently taking place in the South China Sea are of great interest even to people in Europe.Furthermore, this is an issue related to an important principle which matters for everyone wherever you are. It is “the rule of law”, and “actions in accordance with international laws”, or more straightforward, “agreements must be kept”. These are the most fundamental international codes of conduct. I think the people of Europe have a common interest in this problem for the same reason that Japan has a strong interest in the problem of Ukraine.
I think it is very unfortunate when actions are conducted against the internationally recognized “United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea”, which the countries themselves opted for agreeing with and ratified. Furthermore, I find it very unfortunate when they do not even appear before the court of arbitration, which is organized in accordance with the procedures as described in that same convention. The result of the arbitrage judgment is scheduled to be known soon. Regardless of the contents of the result, the parties concerned should adhere to them and aim for a peaceful resolution of the problem. I had the feeling that it was a consensus firmly shared among those present at the meeting.
The concept of “Pacta sunt servanda” (agreements must be kept) is after all a self-evident international norm.By the way, I will be member of a panel on March 1 and 2 during the Japan Trilateral Forum hosted by the GMF, and on the 7th I will be attending the “Copenhagen Strategic Dialogue” which is hosted by the Denmark Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Brookings institution. From the 18th until the 20th I will also attend the GMF Brussels Forum. Frankly, there is a boom of seminars, but along with my main work, I will continue my efforts.