The US and China have agreed to work together to block a plan to expand the powerful UN Security Council backed by Brazil, Germany, India and Japan, China's UN ambassador said.
Wang Guangya (
Washington and Beijing are already on record as opposing the G4 resolution for different reasons, but the agreement would mark a new joint effort to prevent its approval by the UN General Assembly, which requires a two-thirds "yes" vote.
Wang and Bolton, who have known each other for about 15 years, met again Wednesday outside the office of General Assembly President Jean Ping, part of a round of courtesy calls the US envoy is making to Security Council members and senior UN officials.
"There's a lot of important work," Bolton said. "It's a very busy schedule in the first couple of days, and I think it's been productive and I'm certainly enjoying myself."
He wouldn't discuss his meetings with Ping or council members.
Wang said the ultimate objective of China and the US is to expand the Security Council with a formula that is not divisive.
"But at this stage, I think our objective will be to oppose the G4, to make sure they do not have sufficient votes to take the risk to divide the house," he said Wednesday.
"We agreed to work together to make sure that our interests are being maintained -- which means that we have to work in parallel ways to see that the unity of the UN members, the unity of every regional group, will not be spoiled because of this maneuver and process," Wang said.
But he said Washington and Beijing will be working in parallel in the coming weeks to block the resolution -- not together -- because "we have different friends in different parts of the world."
After 10 years of seemingly endless debate, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told UN member states in March that he wanted a decision on Security Council expansion before a summit of world leaders in September. But the issue remains highly contentious, and no proposal on the table at the moment can win the required two-thirds support.
The US-China effort to defeat the Group of Four came on the eve of yesterday's emergency summit called by the African Union to consider whether to approve a compromise agreement which some of its ministers reached with Brazil, Germany, India and Japan in London on July 25.
The Security Council currently has 15 members, 10 elected for two-year terms and five permanent members -- the US, Russia, China, Britain and France.
Brazil, Germany, India and Japan have introduced a resolution calling for a 25-member council that would add six permanent seats without a veto and four non-permanent seats. They are hoping to win four of the permanent seats with the other two earmarked for Africa. South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt are the leading African contenders.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique