Another form of vote buying

I am talking about the version done by Japan where they managed to convince Laos into joining the International Whaling Commission. For those who are not aware, Laos is a land-locked country, stuck between Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Cambodia, with no access to the sea at all. There is really not many good reasons for them to join a body which is closely and intimately linked to the seas. But what caught the eye is that Laos made the decision after its prime minister met with Shinzo Abe, the Japanese PM. Shortly after the meeting a USD1mil development aid for Laos was announced. The timing of the two seemingly unrelated event cannot be coincidental, especially when Japan has used similar "development aids" for the small Pacific island nations to influence these IWC members to support Japan's cause. That cause is to push for commercial whaling to resume.

Already Japan is slowly winning, having gotten a 1 vote advantage last year in a vote to declare the whaling moratorium not necessary anymore. One more additional vote from a willing country desperate for any form of development aid would only serve Japan's interest further, all in the name of protecting their culture of eating whale meat, as well as the dubious excuse of killing hundreds of whales for the purpose of scientific research. For the sake of the whales, I hope Japan will never get enough votes to push for an outright resumption of commercial whaling. But when you consider there are so many countries around who would not balk at getting development aid from Japan, I think it's another case of human interests above all.

Courtesy of Al Jazeera English