Japan is not qualified to be a permanent member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, Chinese Ministry pf Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.
Mao's remarks echoed the speech of Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the UN, at the General Assembly's annual debate on Security Council reform on Tuesday. Fu stressed that Japan is in no position to demand permanent membership.
"Under the United Nations Charter, the Security Council bears the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. During World War II, Japan waged wars of aggression that inflicted profound suffering upon the peoples of Asia and the world. To this day, Japan has failed to reflect on its wartime crimes thoroughly. Some individuals continue to propagate a wrong historical perspective of World War II, visit the Yasukuni Shrine, and distort, deny, or even glorify the history of aggression," said Mao.
"Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently made blatantly erroneous remarks concerning Taiwan, crudely interfering in China's internal affairs, trampling on international law and basic norms of international relations, and challenging the post-WWII international order. Such a country cannot shoulder the responsibility of maintaining international peace and security and is unqualified to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council," the spokeswoman continued.
Japan unqualified for permanent seat on UN Security Council: spokeswoman
