Washington and Beijing will unite to block G4 plan
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-08-04 10:24

Wang said the ultimate objective of China and the United States is to expand the Security Council with a formula that is not divisive.

"But at this stage, I think our objective will be to oppose the G-4, to make sure they do not have sufficient votes to take the risk to divide the house," he said.

"We agreed to work together to make sure that our interests are being maintained - which means that we have to work in parallel ways to see that the unity of the U.N. members, the unity of every regional group, will not be spoiled because of this maneuver and process," Wang said.

But he said Washington and Beijing will be working in parallel in the coming weeks to block the resolution - not together - because "we have different friends in different parts of the world."

After 10 years of seemingly endless debate, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told U.N. member states in March that he wanted a decision on Security Council expansion before a summit of world leaders in September. But the issue remains highly contentious, and no proposal on the table at the moment can win the required two-thirds support.

The U.S.-China effort to defeat the Group of Four comes on the eve of Thursday's emergency summit called by the African Union to consider whether to approve a compromise agreement which some of its ministers reached with Brazil, Germany, India and Japan in London on July 25.

The Security Council currently has 15 members, 10 elected for two-year terms and five permanent members - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

Japan, Brazil, Germany and India have introduced a resolution calling for a 25-member council that would add six permanent seats without a veto and four nonpermanent seats. They are hoping to win four of the permanent seats with the other two earmarked for Africa. South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt are the leading African contenders.

The African Union has proposed expanding the council to 26 members - adding six permanent seats with veto power and five non-permanent seats. A third resolution by a group called Uniting for Consensus would add 10 non-permanent seats.

There is widespread support for enlarging the council to reflect the world today. But all previous attempts have failed because of national and regional rivalries, the Associated Press said.