The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan submitted on March 21, 2005 a report
regarding the UN reform to the 59th General Assembly of the United Nations. All
of sudden, the phrase of "UN reform" started to enjoy a very high frequency
being used by the media in every country. A month-plus later, Japan, Germany,
Brazil and India made public, on May 16, a draft framework for the reform of the
UN Security Council, which once again attracted people's attention to the
time-consuming "project" of the UN reform.
The UN reform has been on the agenda ever since the Cold War wound up, with
the reform of the Security Council as the most important part. However, for all
these years, the UN member states failed to reach a common view on the issue of
UN reform due to significant differences.
In 1993, the United Nations 48th General Assembly decided to establish a
special working group to address the reform of the Security Council. In January
1997, Kofi Annan became secretary-general and then set about to reform the
United Nations. In March, Chairman of the 51st General Assembly of the United
Nations Razali Ismail proposed a package of the Security Council reform in the
capacity of the chairman of the working group in charge of the reform of the
Security Council. In July the same year, Kofi Annan submitted a comprehensive
plan on the issue of UN reform to the 51st General Assembly of the United
Nations.
In December 2004, a high-level panel on UN reform proposed two plans for
the Security Council reform with the main objectives to enlarge its member
states from the present 15 to 24. Not long after, Japan, Germany, Brazil and
India formed a four-country coalition to fight for the seats of the Security
Council. Recently, they handed out a draft framework resolution regarding the
Security Council reform to the UN member states projecting their eagerness to
become permanent members of the Security Council.
The most important part of the draft is the four-country coalition's
tactful "suggestion" that the new permanent members should enjoy the veto power,
which is explicitly objected by many member states.
It is quite obvious that the draft resolution of the four-country coalition
demands more than the previous two plans already on the table. Currently, the
international community has not fully expressed its opinions about the draft
resolution. According to the provisions of the United Nations Charter, the draft
resolution regarding the reform of the Security Council must be supported by at
least two thirds of the 191 member states. Though the four-country coalition
claims that over 100 states support the program to expand the Security Council,
and yet it is uncertain how many of them will support its draft resolution.
The issue of the United Nations reform has been there for over 10 years and
the parties concerned have never stopped discussing the issue. However, the UN
member states have hitherto failed to reach a unanimous view on the issue. The
draft resolution proposed by the four-country coalition will no doubt stretch
longer the already long enough road of the UN reform.
By Xi Jin
(May 23, PLA Daily)