BEIJING: China wants Pakistan not India to obtain a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.
China attaches great importance to Pakistan’s request for a seat on the UN Security Council, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. She said Beijing is in favour of Pakistan playing a bigger role in maintaining international peace and security.
“China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic partners,” Jiang noted at a news briefing.
The UN General Assembly is set to meet on Friday to elect five non-permanent members of the Security Council. Those elected will serve from January 1, 2012 to December 2013. The new elected members will replace Lebanon, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon and Nigeria, whose terms end on December 31.
Pakistan faces a challenge from Kyrgyzstan, which is contesting the election for the first time.
Beijing welcomed India’s election as a non-permanent member of UNSC last year but it has not revealed its mind about supporting New Delhi’s case for a permanent member.
China is the only one of the five permanent members of UNSC that has not announced its decision to support India.
New Delhi has been hoping to bring it around but the latest statement giving credence to Pakistan’s case may prove to be a serious hurdle.
