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US, Russia, China rejecting G4 UN reform bill
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-13 08:53
The United States on Tuesday firmly rejected a resolution by Brazil, Germany,
Japan and India to expand the 15-member U.N. Security Council by 10 seats and
warned the U.S. Senate could veto the measure.
"We will work with you to achieve enlargement of the Security Council, but
only in the right way and at the right time," said Tahir-Kheli, adviser to US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "We urge you, therefore, to oppose this
resolution and, should it come to a vote, to vote against it."
Brazil, Germany, Japan and India have introduced a resolution to add six
permanent seats to the council, four for themselves and two for Africa, and four
nonpermanent seats.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
(L) speaks to U.S. President George W. Bush during a group photo session
at the end of the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, July 8, 2005. Annan
on July 12 urged nations 'to calm down' when debating enlargement of the
U.N. Security Council, a contentious task he hoped would be resolved in
time for a U.N. summit in September.
[Reuters] | After a dozen years of discussion, the
debate on the resolution is the first radical step to increase council
membership, which all agree still reflects the balance of power in 1945. But the
contentious General Assembly debate, which began on Monday, indicated a
majority, but not necessarily the required two-thirds of the 191-member General
Assembly, favored the resolution.
A vote has not yet been scheduled on the proposal. If it is passed by the
U.N. General Assembly, national legislatures must approve the change. If the
legislatures from one of the five permanent members of the Security Council do
not approve the resolution, the proposal will fail.
Tahir-Kheli warned nations the U.S. Senate could veto the measure.
"Whether Democrats or Republicans, American Senators -- like officials of our
executive branch -- will be looking to see if Security Council enlargement is
part of a broader package of needed reforms and whether it makes the council
more or less effective in discharging its important duties," she said.
Of the council's current members, five are veto-wielding permanent members --
the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China. Ten other nations rotate
in two-year terms.
Germany's U.N. ambassador, Guenter Pleuger, said the five Security Council
powers would have a hard time opposing a resolution if 128 General Assembly
members approve it.
"Do one or two permanent members really want to block the development and a
change for the better of the whole U.N. organization? Do they want to be seen in
worldwide public opinion as those who deny the developing countries
representation in the council on an equal footing as permanent members?" Pleuger
asked.
"Some of those who oppose enlarging the council to 25 did not oppose the
enlargement of NATO and would certainly contradict the notion that the NATO
Council of 26 has become less effective since then," Pleuger said. "In the U.N.,
as in all democratic parliaments, decisions are taken by vote and the minority
agrees to accept the result."
China objects to Japan and Britain and France support
the resolution by the four aspirants.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador, Andrei Denisov, gave his first strong statement
against the resolution, agreeing with the United States that 25 new members was
too many. He said Moscow rejected "any dilution of the power of the five and
their veto rights."
The 53-member African Union has a similar proposal to the four aspirants. It
has not yet introduced it but wants one more permanent seat, which would bring
the total seats on the Security Council to 26.
But the Africa Union has insisted on veto rights for new permanent members,
while the four aspirants say a decision on the veto should be made in 15 years.
Without a compromise with the African Union, the resolution from the four
nations seeking permanent seats has no chance to reach the two-thirds vote.
A third proposal by some 20 nations would add 10 nonpermanent seats for
varying terms. Canada, a proponent of this concept, argued that there was not
much one could do about the five permanent members, but adding more permanent
seats "would lock into place forevermore a rigid regime unsuited to a dynamic
world."
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