NYT: If 22 Mil. Chinese Prevail at U.N., Japan Won't (join Sec. Council)

[DeepModem Mom]

If 22 Million Chinese Prevail at U.N., Japan Won't
By JOSEPH KAHN

Published: April 1, 2005


BEIJING, March 31 - A grass-roots Chinese campaign to keep Japan out of the United Nations Security Council has gathered some 22 million signatures, increasing the chances that China will block Japan's bid to join the elite group, organizers and analysts said Thursday.

The petition effort, conducted through popular Chinese Web sites, enjoys tacit support from the government, which has allowed state-controlled media to cover the campaign prominently.

Japan is expected to be among several nations granted a permanent seat on a revamped Security Council under a plan that could come up for a vote in September. As one of the five existing permanent members, China has the power to veto the proposal. It has not said how it plans to vote.

If China were to prevent Japan's elevation, it would be the most direct confrontation between Asia's leading powers since they re-established diplomatic ties in 1972.

Relations between the countries have sharply deteriorated in recent weeks, strained by competition for energy resources, disputes over the way history textbooks assess Japan's role in World War II, Japan's pledge to aid the United States in defending Taiwan and the recent incursion of a Chinese submarine into Japanese waters....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/international/asia/01china.html?

[Kitsune]

1. Not that I'm opposed to this or anything

but wouldn't adding MORE permanent members make it even more ridiculously impossible to get the Security Council to agree on anything?