New candidates for U.N. chief may emerge soon: China envoy

April 5, 2006
Yahoo
Original Source: http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060405/kyodo/d8gpi0l80.html

 (Kyodo) _ New names of possible candidates to lead the United Nations may emerge in the near future, Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Guangya Wang indicated Tuesday. 
Wang, who this month holds the rotating presidency for the U.N. Security Council, told a press conference that informal discussions have been under way by the council and other members since February about a possible pool of candidates to replace U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, whose second five-year term ends in December. 
I think we are still in the process because I understand that there are serious discussions in the council and also outside of the council and that is why I believe that it takes a few months for this consensus building to take place, Wang said. 
Part of the reason is that I believe there are a number of candidates announced by a number of Asian countries, but member states believe that in the next few weeks they want to see more names coming from the different countries. 
In abiding by the traditional method of selecting candidates based on the regional rotation system, the formal contenders have so far been from Asia and include South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and former U.N. disarmament chief Jayantha Dhanapala of Sri Lanka. 
There have been disagreements over the system of selection with some council members suggesting that qualified candidates from all areas, rather than just from Asia, should be considered. Despite the argument that there are some eligible candidates from Eastern Europe, for example, an area no U.N. chief has previously hailed from, Wang believes that the pool should be selected from Asia. 
China believes that it is 35 years that Asians did not have a secretary general serving for this organization, therefore, it is high time that Asians provide the best candidates to serve as the next secretary general, he added, noting the region -- the biggest with 54 members and the largest population -- has not been represented since U Thant of Burma served out two terms from 1961-71. 
Wang also mentioned that besides support from his own regional group, the African group has also agreed to back an Asian candidate. 
At the same time, Wang spoke of the importance of consensus building, but said that the selection process needs to be sped up so that formal discussions begin in June or July, and that the new candidate be selected by September or October, rather than by the end of the year as was the case with Annan. 
The Chinese envoy also hoped that at the appropriate time the chairman of the Asian group would conduct meetings of the group as a whole to see how this group can work in the best interest, to benefit not only the Asian group, but also other regional groups, to ensure that the Asian group's decision is regarded by other regional groups and by all U.N. members as good for this organization. 
Meanwhile, Wang also fielded questions about the possible escalation of action on the part of the Security Council, including the possible use of sanctions, if Iran does not comply with the council's previous presidential statement that was adopted late last month and called on Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment-related activities. 
It will prove to be more counterproductive, rather than productive, he said. We have to be careful on this because this region itself, I mean the Middle East region, has so many problems already we don't need to escalate this situation for the worse. 
China as well as Russia have been resistant to the possibility of using sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program. While Iran has claimed that its enrichment is for peaceful purposes only, rather than for building nuclear bombs, many Western countries, in particular, are suspicious of its intentions. 
Wang suggested that while some pressure must be exerted on Iran at the same time we need to send the correct incentives to get Iranians to cooperate. 
They have to realize the political situations in the world and they have to also consider that non-cooperation will lead to undesirable results, he added.