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With the advent of the 60th birthday of the UN in September and amid heated discussions on the world body's reforms, the Chinese government on Tuesday issued a position paper, laying stress on the basic principles which should be followed in UN reforms and offering a lot of constructive advice and suggestions in guaranteeing a correct direction for the reform efforts.
The Position Paper of the People's Republic of China on the UN Reforms, which lists principles for the UN and UN Security Council reforms, expounds on China's position on the reforms.
Ever since its founding nearly 60 years ago, the UN has made great contributions in maintaining world peace and promoting development of the humankind.
However, as the world is now largely different from what it was 60 years ago when the UN was founded, the world body needs reforms to keep up with the time. Only through reforms can the UN run more efficiently and better perform its role of safeguarding world peace and promoting common development in the new century.
China, a consistent supporter of UN reforms, holds that the reforms must, to the largest extent, serve the interests of all nations and all peoples on this planet, especially those of the developing countries and their peoples, and be conducive to world peace, development and cooperation.
The position paper listed five principles for UN reforms and on the basis of that put forward six principles for reforming the Security Council. These principles chart the right direction for the reforms.
Firstly, UN reforms must lay stress on promotion of multilateralism and enhance the UN's authority. As the world body itself is an outcome of multilateralism, multilateralism is the foundation of maintaining and fostering the UN's authority.
To promote multilateralism conforms to the trend as the world is now moving toward multipolarism.
With the process of globalization going on, different kinds of threats and challenges have crossed the boundaries of nations and regions. It is beyond the capacity of any single nation, not even a "superpower," to cope with these problems alone. Only by promoting multilateralism can the UN regain its vigor and boost its authority, while the enhanced authority of the world body will in return further push forward multilateralism.
Base on these considerations, China calls for opportunities for more countries, especially those small and medium-sized ones, to take turns to enter the Security Council and get involved in the decision-making process. At the same time, the principle of regional balance must be followed and the representation of different cultures and civilizations must also be taken into account.
Secondly, in carrying out UN reforms, the principles of sovereign equality, non-interference in other countries' internal affairs and peaceful resolution of conflicts and disputes should be followed.
Sovereign equality embodies the UN Charter's purposes. In recent years, a few countries, taking advantage of their economic and military edges, pursued power politics under the disguises of "human rights" and "democracy," interfering in other nations' internal affairs, infringing on other countries' sovereignty, and frequently threatening to use force in resolving disputes.
Some particular power even put forward the "preemptive strike" theory, paving the way for the unilaterally use of force against other countries. It is therefore of importance to emphasize the principle of sovereignty in the UN reforms in safeguarding international justice and promoting world peace and stability.
Thirdly, UN reforms should be all-dimensional and multi-sectoral, and aim to succeed in both aspects of security and development.
Since the UN was founded in 1945, both security and development have been paid attention. But to some extent, there is a trend of "UN giving priority to security over development."
Despite energized discussion on UN reforms in recent years, reforms in the field of security, instead of development, is still the main topic, especially those on UN Security Council.
Nevertheless, development is the common pursuit of peoples of all nations and bedrock for a collective security mechanism and the progress of human civilization. The issue of security will not really be resolved if we fail to tackle problems on development.
For that reason, great importance should be attached to development when the UN is under reform.
Meanwhile, the reform of the Security Council is multi-faceted covering such important issues as enlarging its membership, increasing efficiency and improving working methods.
Fourthly, the Chinese government stressed that reforms shall accommodate the propositions and concerns of all UN members, especially those of the developing countries, who account for more than two-thirds of the UN membership.
But developed countries, relying on their strength, have a bigger say in international affairs and have grabbed the lion's share of allocations of the world's wealth.
Failure to solve problems faced by developing countries will not only cause harms to developing countries, but will also bring about negative impacts on the interests of developed countries.
Increasing the representation of developing countries should be given priority in reforming the Security Council. Developing countries are seriously under-represented on the Security Council, which must be reversed.
Fifthly, the Chinese government noted that reforms should be carried out in a way that will iron out differences among members.
For important issues where division still exists, prudence, continued consultations and consensus-building are called for. It is undesirable to set a time limit or force a decision.
Currently, there are various versions on UN reform plans, which are obviously different with each other. But there is nothing to be afraid of and UN members should handle the differences appropriately.
They should resolve those differences and reach broad consensus through equal negotiation. Only a unanimously adopted plan can win all UN member states' trust and support.
However, a few countries recently circulated a framework draft resolution on the enlargement of the Security Council and set a timetable, which stipulates that relevant steps will be concluded by the end of July.
On the immature draft resolution, there is growing controversy in the international community. If being forced to veto, UN reforms will be derailed and the international community will be divided seriously.
China's position paper on UN reforms has been recognized by many UN members. It corresponds with the draft outcome presented by the president of the UN General Assembly, Jean Ping, on June 3. The draft increased the emphasis on development rather than Security Council reform.
The Chinese government will make efforts with other countries to boost UN reforms and contribute to the realization of consistent peace and common development of human society.
(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2005)
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