Thursday, May 19 2005 09:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The US State Department has said that the United States has only endorsed Japan, so far, for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), having made "no further judgments about who should or should not be added".

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, however, that the United States would consider "the various proposals that are out there", including one being jointly lobbied for by India, Germany, Japan and Brazil to increase the council's permanent seats by six - including four for themselves - plus four non-permanent seats.

"But we've made no further judgments about who else should or should not be added to the council, nor are we taking a position pro or con on any one of these specific proposals at this point.

He added, "The goal has to be to make the Security Council a more effective instrument for these times..."

Boucher's remarks came after The Washington Post yesterday (May 18, 2005) reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "appeared to rule out supporting a permanent Security Council seat for Germany".

In a May 5 meeting with former House speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senate majority leader George Mitchell, Rice "thought that there was a very poor rationale for giving another member of the European Union a permanent seat", according to a confidential memo seen by the Post.

"In many respects, Europe already had a common foreign policy and that needed to be taken into account in the Security Council," said the Post, citing the memo and noting that President George W Bush's administration has "steadfastly declined to say whether it would support Germany's bid for a permanent seat".