Global Policy Forum

By Bill Varner

Japan wants six countries added to the United Nations Security Council in a bid to gain a permanent seat and end a deadlock over expansion of the world body's top policy- making panel, Ambassador Kenzo Oshima said.

Oshima said Japan is in talks with the U.S. and China on the proposal, and he met last week with envoys from Brazil, Germany and India, which are also seeking permanent seats. The Japanese proposal would bridge the gap between the U.S., which wants only four new seats, and Brazil, India and Germany, which seek to add 10 to the 15-nation council, he said.

"It is an all-out effort,'' Oshima said. ``The question of the number of seats to be added is something that we need to look at more carefully and take into account the U.S. position. Is expansion to 25 or 26 (countries) the right approach, or do we need to move to that area in stages?''

Japan and Germany, named as enemy states by the UN after their defeat in World War II, say they deserve permanent seats on the council, because they are now the world's second- and third- biggest economies. India and Brazil say their size in their respective geographic regions qualifies them for membership.

Shinichi Iida, spokesman for Japan's mission to the UN, said his government would like to see agreement among the UN's 191 member countries by summer in New York. Japan last month left an alliance formed with Brazil, India and Japan to seek permanent seats out of concern that their proposal lacked majority support in the General Assembly. The Security Council, consisting of five permanent members with a veto and 10 governments elected to two-year terms, hasn't been expanded in 40 years.

Japan's Formula

Diplomats said Japan has proposed adding two new members from Asia, two from Africa, one from Latin America and one from Europe. Candidates that receive a two-thirds vote in the General Assembly would become permanent members, while others would be eligible for semi-permanent seats, meaning they could be re- elected after their terms end.

Japan's push hasn't gained critical support from either the U.S. or China, permanent members that could veto expansion. China opposes Japan's candidacy based on the view that it hasn't sufficiently atoned for invading China in World War II.

The U.S., which supports Japan's candidacy for a permanent seat, doesn't endorse the latest proposal, Ambassador John Bolton said. "We favor permanent membership for Japan and a small number of other additions, but we have neither accepted nor rejected any particular suggestion they put forward,'' Bolton told reporters. ``We haven't seen any proposal out there yet that looks likely to achieve broad consensus.'' U.K. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said Japan's proposal "gets closer to what I perceive to be the middle ground.''

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