Remember the time when the Republic of China (ROC) was one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the highest-ranking body dealing with peace and security, and issues including international sanctions and the use of force?
The ROC lost its seat to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), as communist China likes to call itself, on Oct. 25, 1971.
On that day, the PRC not only took over Taiwan’s seat in the UN General Assembly, but also became a permanent member of the Security Council. Taiwan had been a member of the UN since its formation in 1945.
While staking claim to a seat in the two UN bodies, China complained that the Security Council needed new permanent members and positioned itself for one of the coveted seats with veto powers. It is ironic that China now blocks countries aspiring for Security Council membership, particularly Brazil, Germany, India and Japan.
Private conversations with diplomats at the UN can be quite revealing. Clearly, a vast majority of countries would like to bring about fundamental change to the Security Council, which they see as a dysfunctional anachronism, serving as a tool in the hands of the permanent members to pursue their narrow self-interests rather than solving conflicts.
China has used the Security Council to further its own interest, or at least ensure that any unfavorable issue is stopped in informal talks and every unfavorable resolution vetoed.
If there is a military conflict which serves China’s interest, it would disregard the collateral damage and the prolonged suffering of civilians.
China has also used its power to crush any attempt to raise sensitive issues such as Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong or Taiwan, the persecution of religious minorities, human rights violations, etc.
It has even shielded Pakistan by blocking sanctions against Pakistan-based terrorists. Beijing has for 10 years blocked attempts by India to designate militia leader Masood Azhar as a terrorist. China, finally, yielded to international pressure and withdrew its support for Azhar.
Facing rising anti-Security Council sentiment, the three Western permanent members -— France, the UK and US — have realized that it would be futile to continue opposing an expansion; China, on the other hand, has been blocking efforts to start formal negotiations on reforms, using a variety of excuses to delay the process which has been going on for more than 10 years.
The four states which stake a claim to a permanent seat invariably bring up the urgent task at General Assembly sessions.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking ahead of India’s non-permanent two-year Security Council membership starting in January — reminded the UN that while the Security Council, with its currently five permanent and 10 nonpermanent members, is a necessity, the credibility and efficacy of global institutions were being questioned.
“The reason for this is that there has been no change in these institutions despite the passage of time. These institutions reflect the mindset and realities of the world 75 years ago,” Modi said.
French President Emmanuel Macron also called for an overhaul of international cooperation mechanisms, saying that the Security Council “no longer produces useful solutions today.”
There are also others who want reforms. None other than General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir criticized the existing architecture, saying that the Security Council had failed to respond to the world’s biggest challenges.
“Competing interests among its members and frequent use of the veto have limited the Security Council’s effectiveness. Even in some of the most urgent humanitarian crises, the Council could not provide a timely and adequate response,” Bozkir, a Turkish diplomat, said during a debate on Security Council reform.
The COVID-19 pandemic has further laid bare the Security Council’s incapability to produce solutions to contain the virus.
It took more than three months to overcome the differences between the US and China to pass a resolution, calling for more cooperation and support for a call by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a ceasefire in war-torn countries to help fight the disease.
A loophole exploited by China to drag its feet on the reform process is that UN member nations have failed to agree on how big the Security Council should become and whether the new permanent members should be given veto powers.
Indian Permanent Representative to the UN T.S. Tirumurti in the General Assembly described the Security Council as an “impaired organ” which was unable to act with credibility because of its “unrepresentative nature.”
Even though the aspiring member states have for more than 10 years been pushing to start the reform, the Chinese Permanent Mission to the UN has questioned the need for quick action.
“To start text-based negotiation in haste or to impose a single document is not conducive to building a consensus and promoting unity,” the mission said in a statement.
Chinese Ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun (張軍), apparently trying to create divisions between UN member states, spoke of an “over-representation of developed countries” and called for a larger representation of smaller nations, particularly from Africa.
While overhauling a highly politicized Security Council is no easy task, the fact remains that three of the permanent members have softened their resistance to reform. In contrast, China’s obstruction, according to foreign policy wonks, has apparently hardened since Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) took over the reins of power in Beijing.
China might have bolted the door to the Security Council, but how long can it carry on keeping it shut? The sooner China accepts the changed realities, the better for humanity and also for itself.
Failing this, the aspiring world power would soon be looked upon as an international tyrant who wants to dominate the world and bully the large number of — generally — poor and heavily indebted smaller countries, caught in communist China’s debt trap, to toe its line in international institutions.
China’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak and its subsequent cover-up of the pandemic, which has caused untold misery to people around the world and disrupted well-functioning economies, has further fueled distrust and resentment against it.
The UN urgently needs to be reformed to tackle human misery, wars and diseases.
Manik Mehta is a New York-based journalist with writing experience on foreign affairs, diplomacy, global economics and international trade.
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