Saturday, July 30 2005 14:09 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: China today (July 30, 2005) said it will vote against the G-4 draft resolution on UN Security Council reform if India, Brazil, Germany and Japan attempted to force a vote on the issue in the General Assembly, claiming that the move "severely damaged" the solidarity between Asian and African countries.

"The Chinese side will vote against the expansion formula if forcible voting occurs at the UN General Assembly," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said here.

Kong said China has always believed the framework resolution draft proposed by G-4 does not care about the interests of most developing countries, especially those of the small and medium sized countries.

"The forcible voting on the proposal will severely damage the solidarity of Africa, of Asia and among member states, and the long-term interests of the United Nations," Kong was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency here.

He stressed that it is the only right way to go through democratic consultation and make decisions upon extensive agreement to push forward the reform of the UN Security Council.

The spokesman also criticised Japanese Foreign Minister, Nobutaka Machimura's recent comment on China's stance on the G-4 resolution.

He said Machimura's comments were "groundless and with ulterior motives." Machimura said recently in New York that China, a permanent member of the UNSC, will not oppose the G-4 proposal eventually, the Xinhua report noted.

Beijing is unwilling to back Tokyo's bid to become a permanent member in view of the serious differences over the issue of history and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's annual visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 "Class A" war criminals convicted by an Allied war tribunal are honoured with Japan's 2.5 Million war dead.

Koizumi has visited Yasukuni once every year since taking office in 2001, and has repeatedly said he does so to honour the war dead and pray for peace, not to glorify Japan's past militarism.

China has rejected Koizumi's argument for visiting the Yasukuni Shrine as well as attempts to rewrite history by right-wing Japanese leaders.