Thursday, June 16 2005 16:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: China today (Jun 16, 2005) said it will not allow the issue of the expansion of the UN Security Council to hijack the agenda of the September summit of the world body and stressed that member nations should focus on "development" as the priority topic.

Expounding latest stand of China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Council, on the vexed issue of the UN reform, Chinese State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan said in Beijing that any reform plan should highlight and give top priority to "development issues."

Briefing reporters on Tang's comments, Foreign Ministry spokesman Li Jianchao said the senior Chinese official urged UN member countries to continue pushing the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted in 2000 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of UN.

Tang made the remarks when he met the Arab representatives who attended the second high-level meeting of the Chinese-Arab Cooperation Forum held in Beijing between June 14 and 15.

"If all parties are mired in the disputes about the Security Council expansion, the September summit will find it hard to focus on the discussion of development issues. Finally, it may end in achieving nothing," Tang was quoted as saying by Liu. "It will be a huge loss beyond compensation for most countries. We should not allow such a thing to happen."

G-4 countries comprising India, Brazil, Germany and Japan are seeking permanent membership of the UN Security Council while 'Coffee Club', a group led by Pakistan and Italy, opposes expansion of the world body's top organ in the permanent category.