Japan is "totally unqualified" to seek a permanent seat in the the United Nations (UN) Security Council, a Chinese envoy said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform under the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sun Lei, charge d'affaires of China's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, stressed that UN Security Council reform must take increasing the representation and voice of developing countries as the only right direction.
Japan is not qualified to seek a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, as the Japanese right-wing forces have continued to whitewash the country's history of aggression and push for remilitarization and the resurrection of militarism, which seriously violates the basic norms governing international relations and constitutes an open challenge to the outcomes of World War II, Sun said.
The UN Security Council is the core of the international collective security mechanism and bears a special and important responsibility for safeguarding the post-war international order, as well as international peace and security, the Chinese envoy noted.
In January 1946, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East officially opened, and the Tokyo Trials punished Japanese war criminals, upheld international justice, and defended human dignity. The trials also served as a powerful warning against any attempt to revive militarism or pursue aggression and expansion.
However, Japanese militarism has not been thoroughly purged. Instead, it has re-emerged in new forms and continued to grow in the shadows. From Japanese leaders making erroneous remarks on the Taiwan question and issuing military threats against China, to senior official openly advocating nuclear armament, the push for revising Japan's 'three security documents' and claims of revising the 'Three Non-Nuclear Principles,' these actions have fully exposed the dangerous intention of the Japanese right-wing forces to pose new threats to regional and global peace and security.
"A county that shows no remorse for its historical crimes, violates the basic norms governing international relations, challenges the outcomes of the victory in World War II, and blatantly tramples on the post-war international order is incapable of fulfilling its responsibility of maintaining international peace and security, cannot gain the trust of the international community, and has absolutely no qualification to seek a permanent seat in the UN Security Council," said Sun.
China, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible major country, is ready to work with all peace-loving countries and peoples to firmly uphold the outcomes of the World War II and the post-war international order, safeguard the authority and unity of the UN Security Council, and play a constructive role in maintaining international peace and security, Sun added.
Japan not qualified to be permanent member of UN Security Council: Chinese envoy
