The United States threw its weight behind an expansion of the United Nations security council that would take in Japan as a permanent member Thursday but not the other prime contender from the developed world, Germany.
Nicholas Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, said Washington backed a limited expansion from 15 members to about 20, with ”two or so” new permanent ones, including Japan.
The secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, confirmed American support for Japan’s permanent council seat in a telephone call to the country’s foreign minister.
Burns said the new permanent members should have the same veto powers as the existing five — the US, Britain, France, Russia and China. He did not specify which other country should take a new permanent seat, but US officials have been quoted as suggesting that the candidate come from the developing world.
He said the US hoped the restructuring of the security council would be part of a comprehensive reform of the organisation to be discussed at a summit in September.
Washington’s strong backing of Japan, and its failure to mention other contenders by name, was a blow to Germany, which has been campaigning for a permanent seat.
The structure of the security council has not changed for more than three decades, since China joined the main victors of World War II as a permanent member. Along side the permanent five, there are 10 other seats which are rotated every two years.
Burns said the US accepted that the time for change had come: ”The United States recognises that the security council needs to look more like the world of 2005 than the world of 1945.”
Germany, Brazil and India had lobbied for a bigger expansion, with six extra permanent seats and four rotating ones bringing membership to 25. Burns said that would make the council unwieldy. He said the US would propose new criteria for choosing security council members next week. Geographical balance would play a role but other criteria would include the size of a country’s economy, population and armed forces as well as its ability to contribute to peacekeeping missions.
He said the candidate country’s record on democracy, human rights, UN contributions, counterterrorism and non-proliferation should also be taken into account.
Rice said the restructuring should not take precedence over the other reforms the US is seeking. ”We will not let the security council reform sprint out ahead,” she said.
The Bush administration believes the UN should operate under stricter financial and management controls, and has secured the appointment of a state department financial officer, Chris Burnham, as the UN’s newly-created under secretary for management.
Washington is also backing reforms suggested by the Secretary General, Kofi Annan, including the replacement of the human rights commission, in which dictatorships often sat in judgment on democracies, by a smaller council that would exclude countries under sanction for abuses.
Burns said the administration also supported the creation of a UN peace-building commission that would galvanise and focus international support for post-conflict reconstruction around the world.
The Bush administration put forward its reform plans while opposing a Republican motion in Congress which would withhold half the US annual contribution unless a raft of nearly 40 reforms were enacted.
”We think this provision is unacceptable. It would depreciate the credibility of the United States as one of the leading members of the United Nations,” Burns said.
”The US believes the UN … is critical to stability in the world … We are the leading contributor of financial resources [to the UN] and we’re one of the countries that is most often involved in UN missions.” – Guardian Unlimited Â