By Wu Miaofa

Ban Ki-moon, the Republic of Korea's (ROK) minister of foreign affairs and trade, was appointed the next UN secretary-general by the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, as Kofi Annan's tenure is expiring in December.

The 192-member body approved Annan's successor by acclamation. Ban, as the second Asian man after U Thant of Myanmar, is expected to be officially inaugurated on January 1, 2007 as the next UN secretary-general.

World media responded quickly to Ban's appointment, saying he will face challenges in the fields of security, development, human rights and UN reform.

Ban's winning of the appointment is attributed to the following five factors.

First, Ban's nomination received the nod from all the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, though the road leading to the consensus was by no means smooth sailing.
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Only China and Russia, among the five, favored a candidate from Asia. The United States, however, cast its eyes on North or Central Europe. Britain chimed in with Washington and France did not show clearly where it stood. In addition, Western media was generally inclined towards the United States' attitude.

China, however, stuck to its position on choosing a person from Asia for the top UN job and pushed for it strenuously.

Furthermore, Secretary-General Kofi Annan unequivocally threw his support behind this stance. In addition, 53 African nations and more than 30 Latin American countries showed their support for the Chinese and Russian position.

Under such circumstances, the other three Security Council permanent members began to shift their stances towards favoring a person from Asia to hold the No 1 UN post and their attitudes became increasingly clear. US President George W. Bush, for example, said "good luck" to Ban when the latter accompanied ROK President Roh Moo-hyun to the White House during Roh's US visit in early September.

Second, other Asian candidates from Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Jordan and Afghanistan quit the race after seeing the results of the third and fourth rounds of initial voting and, in turn, lent their support to Ban.

Third, ROK's status as a moderately-sized country and particularly the fact that it is playing a positive role in maintaining the stability on the Korean Peninsula won favors from the majority of the United Nations member countries, most of which are small or medium-sized nations.

Experiences indicate that personnel from small or medium-sized nations holding the top UN post helps cement the unity of the United Nations and facilitate the UN work. Besides, Ban is from the Republic of Korea, which makes people entertain great expectations for his handling of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. This is where his advantages lie.

Fourth, ROK launched forceful public-relations diplomacy and lobbying activities and dealt with the uncertainties calmly. The whole country, from president down to common people, left no stone unturned to support Ban's election. Ban's own lobbying inside the United Nations and around African countries also yielded positive results.

Fifth, Ban Ki-moon's own background worked in his favor. He specialized in diplomacy during his college schooling and excelled in ROK's Foreign Ministry civil servant tests. Ban later became vice-minister of foreign affairs and trade during President Kim Dae-jung's tenure, then President Roh Moon-hyun's foreign affairs adviser and finally held the portfolio of the minister of foreign affairs and trade.

Ban is calm by nature, very observant and has a quick mind. He enjoys proficiency in English and French and has a mastery of German and Japanese. All these factors partly explained his winning.

What is expected of Ban Ki-moon as the new UN secretary-general?

Six factors should be taken into consideration in appraising the responsibilities and role carried by the post of the UN secretary-general and include:

The United Nations Charter's definition of the UN secretary-general's area of responsibility;

The particular nature of the post and its Herculean task;

The general international situation faced by the secretary-general;

The balance of power between all the players on the world stage;

The point where the interests of the developed and the developing nations meet;

The disposable human and financial resources of the UN headquarters.

The six factors are not exercising influence on the secretary-general all at one time. But the first, third, fourth and fifth ones are constantly working. The secretary-general is supposed to bring his initiative into play in handling the complex international situation as well as not overstep the limits of his areas of responsibility as mandated by the United Nations Charter.

He is also supposed to take care of both the interests of developing world and big powers, tapping to the utmost his maneuvering talent. And he is expected to show his stance unequivocally on hot-spot issues while patiently and astutely working on the parties involved, offering good offices and brokering negotiations.

It is hoped that Ban Ki-moon will complete his missions as the new UN secretary-general as are decreed by the United Nations Charter.

The author is a researcher from the China Institute of International Studies.

(China Daily October 16, 2006)