China rejects Japan’s bid for UN Security Council permanent membership

China’s Foreign Ministry has strongly opposed Japan’s pursuit of a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, citing recent remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Taiwan and Japan’s historical actions.

“Such a country cannot shoulder the responsibility of maintaining international peace and security and is not qualified to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council,” a spokesperson for the ministry, Mao Ning, stated, Xinhua reports.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly’s plenary meeting on Security Council reform, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations underscored that Japan is “totally unqualified to seek a permanent seat on the Security Council.”

In a regular briefing, spokesperson Mao elaborated, “According to the United Nations Charter, the Security Council bears the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. During World War II, Japan launched an aggressive war, bringing profound disasters to the people of Asia as well as the rest of the world. To this day, Japan has yet to thoroughly reflect on its war crimes. There are still people who promote a wrong view of World War II history, visit the Yasukuni Shrine, and distort, deny or even glorify its history of aggression.”

Mao further criticized Prime Minister Takaichi’s recent comments, saying, “Recently, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi openly made wrongful remarks on Taiwan, brutally interfered in China’s internal affairs, trampled on international law and the basic norms of international relations, and challenged the post-war international order.”

By Vafa Guliyeva