Any reform of the United Nations should help the global body enhance its role in safeguarding peace and security in a world which is undergoing profound and complex changes.

The United Nations, since its founding 60 years ago, has remained at the core of the global collective security mechanism and has been an important arena whereupon multilateralism is practised, making tremendous contributions to maintaining world peace and security.

As the world security situation has changed profoundly and become much more complicated than that 60 years ago, all nations on the planet have a common aspiration for an enhanced UN role in security through reform.

In a position paper on the United Nations' reforms published on Tuesday, the Chinese government has expounded on its positions on UN reforms and put forward its policy proposals on the issue.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's call for collective action against security threats and challenges is consistent with China's proposal for a new security concept that features "mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination."

An adoption of the new security concept is a prerequisite for strengthening world security, and only through international cooperation and collective action can new security threats be tackled effectively.

As the Chinese position paper spells out, the key to an effective, efficient and fair collective security mechanism lies in adhering to ultilateralism, promoting democracy and rule of law in international affairs, strengthening the authority and capability of the UN and safeguarding the centrality of the Security Council to the collective security system.

Solutions to major security issues such as war, conflicts, terrorism, organized crimes, disarmament and non-proliferation can only be found within the framework of the UN collective security mechanism through multilateral cooperation and comprehensive means other than resorting to unilateralism or use of force.

Inter-state conflicts should be resolved through peaceful negotiation and consultation on an equal footing in accordance with the UN Charter and international law.

Internal conflicts are complex. Concrete analysis should be made to determine whether they threaten world peace and security. And their settlement should mainly rely on the efforts of the people of the states in question.

China supports further improvement of the existing counter-terrorism conventions and legal framework, hoping that all countries would as soon as possible sign and ratify the existing international counter-terrorism conventions and reach consensus on the draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in a cooperative and constructive spirit.

On disarmament and non-proliferation, China is of the view that the international community has already set up a set of relatively comprehensive legal system on arms control and disarmament and that the pressing task in world security is to push forward the process of arms control and disarmament while safeguarding the integrity and authority of the system.

Faced with threats and challenges, the role of the United Nations must be enhanced rather than weakened. When dealing with major issues related to world peace and security, no nations or group of nations should adopt a use-it-when-needed or cast-it-aside-when-not-needed approach to the world body as it is much against the will of UN member states.

China backs reforms of the United Nations where it is needed and reasonable, so that it can work more efficiently, resolve issues of common concern, strengthen its leading role in international affairs and its capability to meet new threats and challenges, and to better protect the security interests of all countries, especially the developing countries.

The UN Security Council, at the core of the world collective security mechanism, also needs to be reformed to better meet new challenges and carry out new tasks. But at hand is not just an enlargement of the structure but also an increase in efficiency and an improvement of its working methods.

Developing countries, which account for more than two-thirds of the UN membership, are seriously under-represented in the Security Council. An increased representation in the council of developing countries, which often have more security problems than developed countries due to poverty and backwardness, should be given priority.

Against the backdrop of globalization, developed countries will be adversely affected if the security problems facing developing countries are not well addressed.

More countries, the small and medium-sized ones in particular, should be given more opportunities to enter the Council on a rotating basis to participate in its decision-making process.

The principle of geographic balance should be adhered to, with the representation of different cultures and civilizations being taken into consideration. All regional groups should, first of all,reach agreement on reform proposals concerning their respective regions.

To safeguard the unity of the United Nations and avoid a split in the house, China also stresses the importance of consensus through full democratic discussions and opposes any deadline for an imposed vote over a UN reform plan on which member countries still differ greatly. The entire mankind is tightly tied together by common security interests and challenges. The international community should join hands and work together for an effective, efficient and fair mechanism of collective security so that the United Nations will function better and contribute more to world peace and security.

Source: Xinhua