Should Japan be granted veto power in the UN?

Pulcheria Chung, 18 St Mary's Canossian College

The system in which certain countries have veto power in the UN is full of flaws.

It is unfair that some countries dominate the decision-making process of the world's most important organisation. It makes agreement on critical issues difficult and this could lead to tragic consequences for the whole world.

If the UN were to grant veto power to a country, that country should be highly qualified for that honour, with a clean history.

Japan's war-time atrocities are still fresh in people's minds, such as the Nanjing massacre in which more than 300,000 innocent Chinese civilians were brutally murdered by the invading Imperial Army.

Since the Japanese have yet to issue a proper apology, we assume that they don't feel any remorse about their past misdeeds.

Moreover, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni shrine to pay homage to the country's war dead shows that Japan still has a military mentality.

We definitely cannot trust Japan with veto power in the UN.

Oliver Kwan, 17 Delia School of Canada

I believe that Japan should be given veto power in the UN. The fact that the Japanese still don't have that power defies all logic.

If you look at the structure of the UN, the only reason Japan doesn't have veto power is because they lost the second world war.

Punishing a country for losing a war is an error in itself. One of the biggest contributing factors to the second world war was the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the first world war.

This treaty imposed heavy punishment on Germany for losing the first world war, creating a situation which allowed Adolf Hitler to seize power and eventually start a bloodbath.

Apart from being one of the world's economic giants, Japan is also well-known for using negotiations to defuse potentially dangerous situations. It has provided troops to UN peacekeeping forces, and is one of the few members who have paid all their dues to the UN.

There is no evidence that Japan would ever misuse veto power in the UN.

If Japan gains veto power, it would help Asia play a bigger role in the UN. And who are we to deny a country as proven and established as Japan?