CGTN
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday called for increasing the representation of developing countries as a matter of priority in the reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
Wang made the remarks during his virtual meeting with Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani and Martin Bille Hermann, co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly. Al-Thani and Hermann are the permanent representatives of Qatar and Denmark to the UN, respectively. Describing the UNSC as the core of the collective security mechanism, Wang stressed the importance of reform under volatile global circumstances to enhance the capabilities and efficiency of the UNSC so that it can better fulfill its duties defined by the UN charter.
China always supports reasonable and necessary reform of the UNSC and has been making constructive efforts for it, he said.
The reform should enable more countries, particularly the small and medium-sized ones, to get involved in the UNSC’s decision-making process, he stressed.
Al-Thani and Hermann hailed China’s efforts in safeguarding multilateralism and strengthening the UN’s role, and pledged to enhance communication and coordination with China and other UNSC members to promote the reform steadily. Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the UN, said in November that UNSC reform “cannot only satisfy the selfish interest of a few.” Addressing a plenary meeting on UNSC reform of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly, Zhang said: “At present, the makeup of the Security Council is out of balance between the North and the South, and reform should correct the over-representation of developed countries, earnestly improve the representation of developing countries, correct the historical injustice suffered by Africa, and give more opportunities to small and medium-sized countries that come from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Arab countries and small island countries to serve in the Council and play their important role.”
