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)
