International Law and Diplomacy Booklet (1) Kawase Sousa, Seifukei Fund, Tojokoku Saimu to Kokusihou (Currency Manipulation, Sovereign Wealth Funds, LDC Debt and International Law)

In this book the author considers the three important subjects of international monetary law (Currency Manipulation, Sovereign Wealth Funds and LDC Debt) from the point of public international law.
 
1. Currency Manipulation and International Law
 
Such topics as Monetary System and Currency Manipulation, Monetary Sovereignty and Currency Manipulation, IMF Agreement and Currency Manipulation,WTO Agreements and Currency Manipulation are considered in this article. Under international law States have monetary sovereignty and as a mode of monetary sovereignty, States can determine and change the value of their own currencies. This general rule can be changed by special rules such as IMF agreement ,WTO agreements. But IMF has not been active to regulate Currency Manipulation and it is not appropriate to apply the WTO Agreement on Subsidies to Currency Manipulation. Therefore, only agreements among a limited number of contracting parties (eg. USMCA), declarations of G7 and G20, although non-binding, and unilateral promise can address currency manipulation.
 
2. Sovereign Wealth Funds and International Law
 
This article deals with such topics as Definition and Reality of SWFs, Santiago Principles, Agreements between US Department of Treasury and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority/Singapore Government Investment Corporation, SWFs and Socially Responsible Investment, SWFs and Sovereign Immunity, SWFs and Indigenous Spoliation. Based somewhat on this article which first appeared in 2011, the author in 2015 contributed an English article titled “Sovereign Wealth Funds : Problems of International Law between Possessing and Recipient States” to International Review of Law (Online Journal of the Qatar University). See https://www.qscience.com/content/journals/10.5339/irl.2015.swf.7
 
3. LDC Debt and International Law
 
General International Law relating to Non-Payment of LDC Debt, International Legal Analysis of  Paris Club, Odious Debt and International Law are studied in this article. The 1998 Arbitral Award of the Case concerning the Loan Agreement between Italy and Costar Rica, although neglected even among international lawyers, is worth mentioning when it reads as follows. “This character of equity can only lead the Tribunal to take into consideration not only the technical provisions of the Financing Agreement, repayment and interest on arrears but also all the circumstances of the case which include the cause of the arrears, the misunderstandings and the doubts arising from the Costa Rican side concerning the effectiveness or scope of the various agreements with the Italian Party (Parties) and generally the concrete situation and the behaviour of both Parties, and all their relations friendship and cooperation.”

 

(Written by NAKATANI Kazuhiro, Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics / 2020)