TOKYO -- The Japanese trial balloon to place one of its financial
stars--Eisuke "Mr. Yen" Sakakibara--in the running for International
Monetary Fund managing director is still aloft.
American and European sharpshooters have been trying to puncture the
balloon ever since it was
launched officially about two weeks ago by Japanese Finance Minister Kiichi
Miyazawa. Before that, the idea had been heard in whispers in Tokyo, New
York and London.
It was an added controversial topic on the sidelines of the World
Trade Organization (WTO) "circus in Seattle."
Determining whether the trial balloon is serious or filled with so
much hot air will not be known for sure until just before the retirement
of current IMF chief Michel Camdessus in February.
There has been an unspoken understanding among top money men--from
the gnomes of Zurich to the barons of Wall Street to the samurai elders
in the Kasumigaseki
financial bureaucracies--that the world's top financial jobs should be
split up among the richest blocs.
The World Bank leadership traditionally has gone to an American, the
IMF chair has been reserved for a European and the Asian Development
Bank seat for a Japanese.
Because the IMF was roundly criticized for its handling of Asia's 1997
currency crisis, Southeast Asian nations particularly are happy to join the
campaign to support Sakakibara, the former vice-minister of finance for
international affairs. During the financal crisis, several Asian officials
bristled at "being told what to do by foreigners."
Racist? You bet. But in times of severe stress, such things happen.
The front-runner for the IMF job has been Caio Koch-Weser, Germany's
deputy finance minister.
Developing or emerging market countries have lobbied against his candidacy
which may open the door a crack for Sakakibara.
Meanwhile, Japanese paranoia is fed by suspicions that Europeans are
miffed that Japan snared the top post in UNESCO, which went to Koichiro
Matsuura, former ambassador to France.
Realists at the Japanese foreign and finance ministries realize that the
Sakakibara balloon inevitably will show leakage and eventually collapse.
But Japan and Asia will have served notice through advocacy of the
candidacy that they are to be reckoned with. At 58, Sakakibara is young
enough to stand for an international financial post some time the future.
Sakakibara told me last January that he felt it would take "about 10
years" to develop a yen bloc, which is one of his pet projects. The idea
germinated in Sakakibara's mind when he was serving a four year stint at
the IMF after getting his doctorate at the University of Michigan.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Treasury Lawrence Summers has opposed
making the so-called "Miyazawa fund" of emergency assistance into
something permanent that might resemble an Asian Monetary Fund. China,
South Korea and The Philippines had recently said such a fund would be
welcome.
These thoughts all have an element in them of the East Asian Economic
Caucus concept put forward a few years ago by Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahatir bin Mohamad. The guiding theme of the EAEC was the establishment of
an Asian fund by and for Asians that would not have American or European
management.
In a perfect world, the nationality of fund managers should not matter
as much as qualities like transparency, avoidance of cronyism and
adherence to accepted rules of the financial game.
But sadly, some Asian leaders continue to suffer from a "colonial
hangover" mentality that embraces a vague set of "Asian values" to use
against the supposedly villainous "globalization."
Edward Neilan (eneilan@crisscross.com) is a veteran journalist, based in Tokyo, who covers East Asia and writes weekly for World Tribune.com.