China opposed UNSC expansion, favoured G-20’s gr

WASHINGTON: China, the only P-5 nation which has not come out in support of a permanent seat for India in the UN Security Council, made known its opposition to the very idea of UNSC expansion
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WASHINGTON: China, the only P-5 nation which has not come out in support of a permanent seat for India in the UN Security Council, made known its opposition to the very idea of UNSC expansion during discussions with the US last year.  Beijing, however, had a different tack on G-20, the new multilateral formation that has more or less eclipsed the more exclusive G-8 grouping, by coming out in support of a gradual growth of its scope and importance.

The Chinese stance on the two matters has been revealed in two different diplomatic cables, leaked by WikiLeaks.  

In the first cable, dated April 30, 2009, China voiced its concern over the ‘momentum’ that was building on UNSC reform, commenting that this was ‘not good’ for the P-5 (the US, China, Britain, France and Russia).  

The unnamed Chinese official asked the US to maintain its position on UNSC reform as of that time and not be ‘proactive’ on the matter, which Beijing feared could result in a UN General Assembly resolution on the subject.

“The P-5 ‘club’ should not be diluted,” the official said. If we end up with a ‘P-10’, both China and the US would be in trouble,” the official was quoted as saying, stressing, “Moreover, it would be difficult for the Chinese public to accept Japan as a permanent member of the UNSC.”

According to the cable, the US official replied that Washington had at that point ‘not completed its policy review on UNSC expansion, so we do not yet have a position on specific proposals’.

“Nonetheless, the US believed that UN members should be allowed to state their positions freely and openly without undue P-5 influence. Regarding Japan, the Charge said that, while no decision had been made about which countries to support for permanent membership on the UNSC, it was hard to envision any expansion of the Council that did not include Japan, which was the second-largest contributor to the UN budget,” the cable said.

The second cable, dealing with G-20, refers to the comments put forth by China’s Vice-Foreign Minister He Yafei during a meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg on September 29, 2009.

“Yafei thanked Obama for his leadership in institutionalising the G-20, which had created a ‘comfortable’ platform for countries like China and India to play a larger role. The minister expressed hope that the US would coordinate closely with China as we established new rules for the organisation, and that it would not become an organisation that duplicated the UN or the G-8,” the cable said.

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