Germany, Japan Dangle Money to Win UN Council Seats, Envoys Say 
July 25 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan's foreign minister was invited to Tokyo two months ago to hear Japan's case for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. While he was there, Japan offered to increase its aid to the war-damaged nation, UN Ambassador Ravan Farhadi said. 
About the same time, 3,000 miles to the west, a German envoy asked for Kazakhstan's support for permanent council membership, and proposed greater investment in tapping Kazakhstan's 13.8 billion barrels of oil reserves, according to UN Ambassador Yerzham Kazykhanov. 
Six decades after defeat in World War II banished them to the sidelines of the UN, Germany and Japan are using their combined $16.3 billion in aid to poor African, Asian and Latin American countries in a drive for insider clout. 
The two governments, along with Brazil and India, are asking the UN's 191 nations to expand the council to 25 from 15 members, including six permanent seats. ``The approach is that they are trying to get elected, and they are using whatever means that they have to try to get support, including aid,'' Ambassador Jagdish Koonjul of Mauritius said. ``It is part of the game.'' 
Their determination stems from the prestige and power that comes with a council seat, Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser under U.S. Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, said in an interview in Washington. Scowcroft said a permanent seat makes any country a ``big cheese,'' with the ability to set the UN agenda, represent its region and block discussion of issues and actions seen as threats to its national interest. 
`Unethical or Worse' 
Debate over Security Council expansion, including resolutions from the African Union and a coalition led by Italy, Mexico, Spain and Pakistan, intensified this month, as did reports of aid offers. Lobbying by the Group of Four, as the German-Japanese coalition calls itself, would be ``judged as unethical or worse'' if it occurred in a national election, Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram said in a July 11 speech to the General Assembly. 
``It's gotten ugly,'' said Edward Luck, a former UN consultant who runs the Center on International Organization at Columbia University in New York. ``It has become a bad habit that countries trying to become non-permanent members offer inducements, and now that some major powers are trying to become permanent members, they have upped the ante.'' 
Linkage Denied 
Japanese and German envoys to the UN deny any explicit offers to trade aid for votes. Dirk Rotenberg, spokesman for the German mission, said investment in Kazakhstan or other developing nations has ``nothing to do'' with the outcome of the G-4 proposal. Yoshifumo Okamura, special UN envoy for Japan, said there was no direct connection between Japanese aid to Afghanistan and Security Council membership. 
The governments point out that the permanent membership of the Security Council hasn't changed in 60 years, so it's time for the UN to acknowledge Japan's standing as the world's second- largest economic power and Germany's as the third-largest. 
``There is no quid pro quo,'' Japanese Ambassador Kenzo Oshima said in an interview. ``But we have already said that Japan would double its aid to Africa over the next few years, and increase overall aid by $10 billion. If, as a gesture, they support us, we are grateful.'' 
The German and Japanese public case is in line with Secretary-General Kofi Annan's March 21 call for making the Security Council reflect ``the geopolitical realities of today.'' Annan has asked UN members to agree on a formula for expanding the council before world leaders gather in New York in September to mark the organization's 60th anniversary. 
``We want this reform to strengthen the UN and its most important organ,'' German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger said. 
Veto Power 
Two-thirds of the nations in the General Assembly must approve an expansion. Then, the Security Council must vote to amend the UN Charter. Any of the five permanent council members -- China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. -- have the authority to veto the move. The council's other 10 members are elected to two-year terms without veto power. 
The G-4 proposal calls for the General Assembly to consider granting veto power to the new permanent members after 15 years. 
Japan, currently an elected council member, has pointed out that it is second only to the U.S. in contributing to the UN budget and has deployed more than 4,600 soldiers and police to eight peacekeeping missions. 
`All the Resources' 
An envoy from Japan, which last year disbursed $8.8 billion in foreign aid, visited Latin American capitals last month, Chilean Ambassador Heraldo Munoz said, and ``used all the resources available'' to win votes. 
``Our embassies all over the world are getting reports that economic muscle is being exercised,'' Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said in a July 13 interview. ``Among the G-4, it is Japan and also Germany. They have the money.'' 
Germany's Pleuger, whose government ranked fourth in foreign aid last year with $7.5 billion, hinted at the financial stakes in a July 12 speech to the General Assembly. Failure to expand the Security Council might undercut development goals, he said. 
Pleuger was referring to Annan's call for the world's richest nations to commit to paying 0.7 percent of their economic output in aid. 
U.S. Position 
The U.S., while backing Japan for a permanent seat, opposes Security Council enlargement before achieving improvement in UN management and oversight. While the U.S. supports one more permanent seat in addition to Japan, it has questioned Germany's credentials and hasn't endorsed Brazil or India. 
Shirin Tahir-Kheli, a senior aide to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on UN overhaul issues, told the UN that U.S. criteria for permanent seats include economic size, military capacity and geographic balance. 
Brazil and India, which aren't major aid donors, haven't been as aggressive as Japan and Germany in their lobbying, according to Latin American and Asian diplomats. 
``The Brazilians are saying they have the qualifications, they want it and that they were almost there after World War II,'' Chile's Munoz said. 
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the U.S. Congress July 19 that it is time for his country, as the world's most populous democracy, to join the UN's highest decision-making body. 
The Group of Four's lobbying hasn't yet produced the needed two-thirds majority, most diplomats said. Most of Africa's 53 nations want two African seats with veto power. Latin American governments are split on the plans, according to Argentine Ambassador Cesar Mayoral. 
China also opposes the Group of Four's resolution, as well as Japan's candidacy. Russia hasn't endorsed anyone. 
``For every country that people think ought to get in, there are an equal number who think they shouldn't, so getting a two- thirds majority will be really tough,'' Scowcroft said.