Chapter I. The International Situation of 1993
The world in 1993 continued to evolve in uncertainty and unpredictability. Economies in the industrialized countries showed few signs of recovery; regional conflicts such as that of the former Yugoslavia; North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons; proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missiles; and the turmoil in the countries of the former Soviet Union, all of which remained without effective solutions.
In these circumstances, the international community is groping for a new framework for peace and prosperity through the United Nations, Japan-Europe-U.S. trilateral cooperation and regional institutions. The international community is making efforts to construct partnerships with the former Eastern bloc countries as well as with the developing countries, to strengthen peace-keeping activities and foster regimes of non-proliferation, and to enhance macroeconomic policy coordination and a multilateral free trading system. In fact, some of these efforts bore fruit in 1993, such as the new start of the resuscitated Cambodia, the mutual recognition of Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the agreement on the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-government, and the substantial conclusion of the Uruguay Round trade negotiations, all of which give a bright prospect for the future.
This chapter will present an overview of the international situation of 1993, and Chapter II will make evaluations on how the international community strives, under the present situation, for a more secure, prosperous and humane world and how Japan participates in such efforts as a responsible member of the international community.