A Japanese official hands over ships to the Fiji coast guard provided under the Official Security Assistance framework. (Provided by Foreign Ministry)

EDITORIAL: Government must not lose sight of original mission of ODA

（社説）安保関連ＯＤＡ　協力の原点見失わずに

The government has clearly laid out its stance of strategically utilizing official development assistance to improve national and economic security.

The proper role of development cooperation is to improve the autonomy of the recipient nation as well as the social welfare of its citizens to promote stability in the international order.

The government may be losing sight of that starting point in its prioritizing of short-term benefits.

In a foreign policy speech given in May in Vietnam, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific region, national security cooperation was indispensable.

She expressed her intention to not only use the Official Security Assistance framework to provide direct support to other militaries, but to also strengthen utilization of ODA in the national security field.

In submitting its budget request for the next fiscal year, the Foreign Ministry said it plans to “establish an international environment conducive to national interests,” and asked for a total of 760.1 billion yen ($4.9 billion) for the ODA program, which, in principle, is non-military support.

The money would be spent on projects related to economic security such as improving infrastructure through the laying of underwater cables and strengthening the supply chain as well as providing support to the coast guards of other nations to improve their capabilities.

The figure is about a 30-percent increase over the 581.4 billion yen combined total of the initial and supplementary budgets for the past fiscal year.

Until 2000, Japan was the largest provider of support in the world for 10 consecutive years.

But due to subsequent economic stagnation and the increasingly serious fiscal condition, the overall government ODA spending in the past fiscal year was about half of the peak year of fiscal 1997.

Last year’s preliminary amount places Japan fourth behind Germany, the United States and Britain.

Japan only provides about half of the U.N. goal of spending 0.7 percent of gross national income on development assistance.

With the United States turning increasingly inward, the Trump administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The international community would welcome Japan supplementing the support from the United States by increasing its support for a wider range of private-sector overseas support projects.

Three years ago, Japan began the OSA framework to make possible support to foreign militaries that were basically not covered by the ODA program.

OSA provides defense equipment and related items free of charge to the militaries of like-minded nations.

The program has now spread to cover 11 nations, including the Philippines and Malaysia, in a clear expression of trying to counter China’s arms buildup and maritime advances.

In the first year, 2 billion yen was set aside for OSA, but in the latest budget request the figure increased to 18.1 billion yen and could further expand during the final budget compilation process at year-end.

As such, there should be no further effort to use ODA as a subcontracting element in national security.

Through construction of roads and harbors, spending on education and public health as well as fostering human resources, the private sector of the recipient nation will improve and contribute to stability there.

That, in turn, would lead to regional peace and prosperity, which in the long run would benefit Japan.

Turning excessively to national security will only weaken Japan’s soft power as a pacifist nation.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 7

政府が途上国援助（ＯＤＡ）を安全保障や経済安全保障の手段として戦略的に活用する姿勢を鮮明にしている。開発協力の本来の役割は、相手国の自立と人々の福祉を向上させ、国際秩序の安定につなげることにある。短期的な利益を優先するあまり、その原点を見失ってはいけない。
　高市早苗首相は５月にベトナムで行った外交演説で、「自由で開かれたインド太平洋」の実現には、「安保面での協力」も欠かせないとして、日本が各国軍に直接支援を行う政府安全保障能力強化支援（ＯＳＡ）に加え、「安保分野におけるＯＤＡ」の活用を強化すると表明した。
　外務省は来年度予算案の概算要求にあたり、「日本の国益に資する国際環境の整備」を掲げ、「非軍事」が原則のＯＤＡについては、海底ケーブルを含むインフラ整備やサプライチェーンの強靱（きょうじん）化など、経済安保に関する事業や、軍ではない海上保安機関の能力向上に向けた支援など、計７６０１億円を計上した。昨年度の当初と補正予算を合わせた５８１４億円から約３割増になる。
　日本は２０００年まで、１０年連続で世界最大の援助国だった。その後、長引く経済の低迷や厳しい財政事情もあり、昨年度の政府全体のＯＤＡ予算はピークの９７年度からほぼ半減。昨年の実績（暫定値）はドイツ、米国、英国に次ぐ４位だった。国民総所得（ＧＮＩ）比は国連目標０・７％の半分程度にとどまる。
　米国では内向き志向が強まり、トランプ政権が経済援助や人道支援を担う国際開発局（ＵＳＡＩＤ）を解体した。日本が幅広い民生分野で対外援助に力を入れ、米国の役割を補完するなら、国際社会からも歓迎されるだろう。
　日本は３年前、原則ＯＤＡの対象外だった軍への支援を可能とするＯＳＡという新制度を設けた。「同志国」と認める途上国に防衛装備品などを無償で提供するもので、フィリピン、マレーシアなど対象は１１カ国に広がった。軍拡や海洋進出を続ける中国が念頭にあることは間違いない。初年度２０億円だった予算は、今回の概算要求では１８１億円で、年末の予算編成でさらに積み増される見通しだ。
　このうえ、ＯＤＡまでも安保の「下請け」にしてはならない。道路や港湾、教育や保健、人材育成や制度の整備を通じて、民生の向上と社会の安定を図り、地域の平和と繁栄につなげる。それは巡り巡って、日本のためにもなる。安保への過度な傾斜は、平和国家としてのソフトパワーを弱めかねない。

(2026年9月7日)