China, U.S. to jointly oppose UN council expansion
Thu Aug 4, 2005
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - China and the United States have agreed to work together to defeat plans to expand the prestigious U.N. Security Council at this time, China's U.N. ambassador said on Thursday.
The agreement came in a brief meeting with John Bolton, the George W. Bush administration's new ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters.
Bolton, who was sworn in on Monday, was not immediately available for comment.
A U.S. official said Beijing and Washington had long shared a belief that proposals to expand the 15-nation Security Council at this time would lead to a divisive international debate that could harm chances for crucial U.N. reforms to be taken up at a world summit in New York next month.
"There's nothing new to our opposition to any proposal (on Security Council expansion) that comes forward before U.N. reforms. We reiterated our stance yesterday," said Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.
Wang said the United States and China "have shared objectives for the U.N. reform, and we have shared objectives for the Security Council expansion."
Brazil, Germany, India and Japan have banded together in a "Group of Four," to lobby for an expansion plan that would give all four of them permanent seats on an expanded council.
To win the necessary two-thirds vote in the 191-nation U.N. General Assembly, they would need substantial support from other regions including Africa. African Union leaders were meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Thursday in search of a possible compromise with the four countries that could lead to approval.
"Definitely both sides see that the process now being pushed by the G4 is damaging the prospects for U.N. reform," Wang said. "So therefore both agreed in parallel with our joint efforts to stop it."
Asked if that meant a coordinated campaign with Washington, Wang responded, "coordinated efforts, yes."
The Security Council has five permanent members -- Britain, France and Russia as well as the United States and China. The other 10 members are elected for two-year terms.
Enlargement of the 15-member council, whose membership reflects the balance of power at the end of World War II, is currently the most contentious issue at the United Nations.
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