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Rediff.com  » News » Japan to work with G-4 for permanent seat in UNSC

Japan to work with G-4 for permanent seat in UNSC

By Dharam Shourie in United Nations
April 07, 2006 10:39 IST
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Japan on Thursday said it will not abandon the Group of Four and will continue to work with India, Germany and Brazil in their quest for permanent seats in an expanded Security Council.

However, Japan differs in the approach adopted by the remaining three in the group after they failed to win a requisite two-thirds support for their resolution in the General Assembly last year, a senior Japanese official at the United Nations said.

The G-4 never pressed for vote due to lack of support and the resolution became defunct at the end of the last session of the 191-member General Assembly in September. It was reintroduced in January.

The official, speaking on condition anonymity, said Tokyo was not in favour of reintroduction of the resolution as a verdict had already been delivered on it.

Japan, he stressed, strongly feels that the United States and China, two powerful members of the Council, should have been involved in the process and is having consultations with them.

With Secretary-General Kofi Annan's term due to expire at the end of the year, the senior official said consultations are already on between the Security Council members.

Japan, he said, hopes to play an important role in the final decision making process. The idea at present is to make the selection in October or early November so that the next incumbent has sufficient time to prepare himself for the new job.

He said the Asian and African groups preferred the next Secretary-General to come from Asia. A large number of Latin American countries too are for it, but have not taken a formal decision.

However, East Europe would like the post to go to them as the sub region had never held it, he added.

Asked about the position of the permanent members, he said while China favours an Asian, the United States does not consider the idea of regional rotation valid and Russia and France are sympathetic to Asia.

He was not very optimistic on the Asian group agreeing on a single candidate as he said the 54-member group is very diverse. He also questioned the wisdom of having a single candidate, saying it could cause problem if he or she is not acceptable to the permanent five members of the Council.

Currently, he said three declared candidates -- Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathiarathai and South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon -- are conducting an intensive campaign.

He said Japan has no intention of fielding a candidate.

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Dharam Shourie in United Nations
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