The US and China have agreed to work together to block a plan to expand the powerful UN Security Council backed by Brazil, Germany, India and Japan, China's UN ambassador said.
Wang Guangya (
Washington and Beijing are already on record as opposing the G4 resolution for different reasons, but the agreement would mark a new joint effort to prevent its approval by the UN General Assembly, which requires a two-thirds "yes" vote.
Wang and Bolton, who have known each other for about 15 years, met again Wednesday outside the office of General Assembly President Jean Ping, part of a round of courtesy calls the US envoy is making to Security Council members and senior UN officials.
"There's a lot of important work," Bolton said. "It's a very busy schedule in the first couple of days, and I think it's been productive and I'm certainly enjoying myself."
He wouldn't discuss his meetings with Ping or council members.
Wang said the ultimate objective of China and the US is to expand the Security Council with a formula that is not divisive.
"But at this stage, I think our objective will be to oppose the G4, to make sure they do not have sufficient votes to take the risk to divide the house," he said Wednesday.
"We agreed to work together to make sure that our interests are being maintained -- which means that we have to work in parallel ways to see that the unity of the UN members, the unity of every regional group, will not be spoiled because of this maneuver and process," Wang said.
But he said Washington and Beijing will be working in parallel in the coming weeks to block the resolution -- not together -- because "we have different friends in different parts of the world."
After 10 years of seemingly endless debate, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told UN member states in March that he wanted a decision on Security Council expansion before a summit of world leaders in September. But the issue remains highly contentious, and no proposal on the table at the moment can win the required two-thirds support.
The US-China effort to defeat the Group of Four came on the eve of yesterday's emergency summit called by the African Union to consider whether to approve a compromise agreement which some of its ministers reached with Brazil, Germany, India and Japan in London on July 25.
The Security Council currently has 15 members, 10 elected for two-year terms and five permanent members -- the US, Russia, China, Britain and France.
Brazil, Germany, India and Japan have introduced a resolution calling for a 25-member council that would add six permanent seats without a veto and four non-permanent seats. They are hoping to win four of the permanent seats with the other two earmarked for Africa. South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt are the leading African contenders.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS