2018年の島サミットでは私が提言した海洋安全保障が議案に入り、安倍総理スピーチにこれも私が提言したオーストロネシア語族のインド太平洋の２つの海の交わりが入りました。
Maritime security, which I proposed, was on the agenda at the 2018 Island Summit, and the confluence of the two seas of the Indo-Pacific of the Austronesian language group, which I also advocated, was included in Prime Minister Abe's speech.
やしの実通信のブログを始めてから13年。開設を指示したのは笹川陽平氏。外務省が読んでいるぞ続けろ、とも言われました。実は米軍も読んでいて、ある事件に関してどのサイトを読めばいいかリストを作成しれくれとのリクエストもありました。
1年続くだろうか、と悩んだのは遠い昔。
年末年始の挨拶文を書こうと思いつつ３月になってしまいました。
昨年11月には今話題の少女支援に関わり顔面麻痺になるような仕打ちを受け、12月には以前から気になっていた北海道ニセコに田中義人町議を訪ね、１月はこれも以前から気になっていた与那国の田里千代基町議を訪ねました。
そんなわけでこのブログでのご挨拶ができないままでした。
太平洋島嶼国に40年近く関わってしまい、財団を離れた後もパラオの柔道キッズ支援や国家安全保障局アドバイザーを依頼され、以前よりも地域へのコミットメントは深化しています。特に2008年に一人で立ち上げたミクロネシア海洋安全保障事業は、国交省、海保、日本財団の造船利権と天下り利権になって行き、組織内での必死な抵抗も万策尽きて、万事休す。諦めていました。
しかし、2021年パラオのウィップス政権下で設立された国家安全保障局のアドバイザーとして海上自衛隊のインド太平洋派遣など以前より大きな枠組みで安全保障に関わることになりました。特に昨年発表されたパラオ国家安全保障戦略は、要請を受け提言し、それが反映されていることは光栄です。人口2万人以下の小国とはいえ、主権国家の安全保障という肝の部分に触れるのは神経がすり減る作業ですが、他国の国益を真剣に考える貴重な機会でした。
こんな重責は私には無理だと思い、一度その道のプロに私のポジションを打診しましたが予算が取れず、私が無償でやっています。いや、パラオの島を一つくれるとのこと。死ぬまでに一度訪ねられるか不安です。
今年はスイスの国際組織の専門委員にも招かれ、彼らの太平洋事業立ち上げを手伝うことになりました。２つ目の博論も足踏みのままですが、前に進めたいと思います。
安倍総理の遺産となったインド太平洋、海洋安全保障を中心に動かしていきます。
***
It has been 13 years since the coconut news blog was started. It was Yohei Sasakawa who idirected me to open it. He also told me that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs read it and that I should continue. In fact, the US defence read it, too, and they asked me to make a list of which sites to read on certain incidents.
It was a long time ago that I wondered if I would be able to continue for a year.
It is now March 2023 and I was thinking of writing a New Year's greeting.
In November last year, I was involved in the controversial support for girls and was betrayed by them. Due to this stress I contracted facial paralysis. in December I visited Yoshito Tanaka, the town councillor in Niseko, Hokkaido, which had been on my mind for some time, and in January I visited Chiyoki Tasato, the town councillor in Yonaguni, which had also been on my mind for some time.
That is why I have not been able to greet you on this blog.
I have been involved in Pacific Island countries for almost 40 years, and even after leaving the Foundation, my commitment to the region has deepened more than before, as I was asked to support Judo Kids in Palau and to be an advisor to the Palau National Security Office. In particular, the Micronesian Maritime Security Project, which I launched alone in 2008, went to the shipbuilding and Amakudari concessions of the MLIT, the Coast Guard and the Nippon Foundation, and my desperate resistance within the organisation ran out of hope and all bets were off. I had given up.
However, I became involved in security in a larger framework than before, such as the deployment of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force to the Indo-Pacific as an advisor to the National Security Office established under the Whipps' administration in Palau in 2021. I am particularly honoured that I was requested to and made recommendations for the Palau National Security Strategy, which was published last year and my suggestions have been reflected in the document. Even though it is a small country with a population of less than 20,000, it is nerve-wracking work to touch on the heart of a sovereign state's security, but it was a valuable opportunity to seriously consider the national interests of others.
I thought I could not handle such a heavy responsibility, and once I approached a professional in that field about my position, but we could not get a budget for him, so I am doing it for free. No, they are willing to give me one island in Palau. I am not sure if I will be able to visit it once before I die.
This year I was also invited to join the expert committee of an international organisation based in Switzerland to help them set up their Pacific project, and my second PhD thesis is still at a standstill, but I want to move it forward.
I shall move on with the Indo-Pacific as a legacy of Prime Minister Abe, with a focus on maritime security.
