volcanic vent
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the chief executive of the world's largest international organization and the chief international diplomat, and enjoys the diplomatic courtesy of a "quasi-state leader". As the representative of the United Nations, the Secretary-General is recommended by the Security Council and appointed by the United Nations General Assembly. His main functions are: to exercise his functions and powers in the capacity of Secretary-General at meetings of the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council, to submit an annual report on the work of the United Nations and necessary supplementary reports to the General Assembly, and to have the right to draw the attention of the Security Council to events that he considers may threaten international peace and security. In addition, it can be responsible for implementing relevant resolutions according to the authorization of the General Assembly and the Security Council.
With regard to the qualifications and term of office of the Secretary-General, after years of practice and coordination and recognition among major powers, the principle that the term of office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations is once every five years and can be re-elected has finally come into being. As a rule, people from the P5 can't hold office because the country is too powerful and has veto power. At least on the surface, the affairs of the United Nations cannot be monopolized by permanent members. Therefore, for a long time, this position has basically been dominated by relatively neutral small and medium-sized countries. From the founding of the United Nations to 198 1, * * * produced four secretaries-general. They are Ley in Norway (1946 ~ 1952), Hammarskj? ld in Sweden (1953 ~ 19 1) and Wu Dan in Myanmar (19/kloc-0). Among them, Wu Dan of Myanmar was killed in the Hammarskj? ld air crash. As Deputy Secretary-General, he first acted as Secretary-General and then became a full member. It can be seen that the post of Secretary-General has long been occupied by a small developed country in the West. In 35 years, they accounted for 24.
Four people were selected in 2008, and they accounted for three.
198 1 year, after being re-elected twice as secretary-general, waldheim still wanted to continue to serve, so he ran for office. Meanwhile, Salim, Tanzania's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, is running for office. He is a candidate recommended by the Organization of African Unity. Salim is a promising young African politician who enjoys high prestige among African countries. Before working in the United Nations, he served as Tanzanian ambassador to China for many years and was very friendly to China. When the new China resumed its legal rights in the United Nations, Salim was happy to take the lead in dancing at the venue. After leaving the United Nations, Salim returned to Tanzania as Foreign Minister and Prime Minister, and later served as Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity for a long time. He is an influential figure in Africa.
From 197 1, when New China joined the United Nations, to 198 1, there have been two elections for the secretary-general, and this is the third time. The first two times, we first opposed candidates from developed countries and supported candidates from developing countries; After two rounds, they turned to vote for candidates from developed countries. This makes sense because: first, although we support developing countries, there is nothing we can do if other permanent members do not support them; Second, developed countries are also our friends, and we are not good at opposing it to the end; Third, China has no selfish interests in UN affairs and does not want to influence which secretary-general serves China policy. Moreover, we don't know enough about the situation since we entered the United Nations, and we don't want to be too ostentatious.
The election period of the fifth UN Secretary-General is approaching. Should we invoke the past practice and vote against candidates from developed countries twice before voting for them? I've been thinking about this issue for a long time, but I can't make up my mind, because although China has no intention to manipulate the election, according to the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, the candidate for the Secretary-General must be recommended by the Security Council (more than 9 votes, including the consent or no objection of the five permanent members) before being submitted to the General Assembly. Just like the enlargement of the Security Council, the latter can be adopted by the General Assembly first and then unanimously by parliaments of all countries, including the five permanent members. Therefore, in the election of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, China must express his position in time, and it is urgent. China's vote carries a lot of weight. Many countries, especially developing countries, are paying attention to China's actions. On the other hand, although the affairs of the United Nations are often influenced by big powers, there is little the Secretary-General can do. As Ley, the first Secretary-General of the United Nations, pointed out, "This is the most difficult job in the world". But after all, the Secretary-General of the United Nations is the highest representative of the largest intergovernmental international organization in the world, and his position is very prominent. Some even called him "the president of the world". Therefore, the candidate and the country he represents also attach great importance to the election results.
After repeated weighing, some thoughts gradually formed in my mind: First, Salim, one of the candidates, is an old friend of China and an important figure in African politics. He came out to run for election not only on his own behalf, but also with the support of the Organization of African Unity, which represents the whole of Africa. Mao Zedong once said that African countries sent us to the United Nations. If China only supported it twice, and then turned against us, it would appear that we were just trying to perfunctory African countries, and our attitude was not sincere enough and we were not friends enough. Second, the election situation is different from the past. In the past, the Secretary-General could only be re-elected for two terms, but this time, if waldheim is elected, he will be re-elected for three terms. Although waldheim is an outstanding international political activist, friendly to China, and China has no prejudice against waldheim himself, politicians and diplomats in many countries are salivating over such an important position. If it is monopolized by one person for a long time, this move may be unpopular. Third, the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations has been occupied by western developed countries for three consecutive years, while developing countries have repeatedly failed in elections. This is neither reasonable nor fair. Are developing countries not qualified for this important position? China is the only developing country among the permanent members, and it will be unpopular if it doesn't speak out. The last question is whether we should confront the United States in the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations, because the United States has no interest in ourselves. Because obviously, the United States supports waldheim and opposes Salim, while other countries don't care. Of course, I don't know much about this issue myself, but I heard that the third Sino-US joint communique was under intense negotiations at that time, and the negotiations were not progressing smoothly. When necessary, we are even prepared to downgrade the embassy to a liaison office. So there seems to be no need to have some contradictions with the United States at this time. Of course, the central government will grasp this point.
Based on the above understanding, I boldly imagine that this time it seems that I can oppose it to the end, at least forcing a third person to run for public office, and this person must come from a third world country, which is very beneficial. I put forward my ideas at the meeting of the delegation's party Committee, and some comrades hesitated a little, but did not object. I wrote a report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs finally approved it and gave specific instructions to each candidate on how to vote.
Later, I heard that Deng Xiaoping also had the instruction of "once and for all". This determines China's voting attitude. Of course, I am most sorry for waldheim, because the decision was made very late, and it was too late to say hello to waldheim in advance. Waldheim always believed that China would not oppose it to the end.
Be equal in strength
It's time to vote. 1 9811On the morning of 27 October, in a small chamber of the Security Council, the1round of voting nominated by the Secretary-General began. Representative Liang and I entered the meeting on time. After a brief explanation by Ambassador Despit Ness, President of the Security Council for that month, the voting officially began. After I got the ballot, I briefly discussed it with Liang nearby, and then voted according to the predetermined plan: I agreed to nominate Salim and opposed waldheim. The result of 1 round of voting is: Salim got 1 1 vote, but one permanent member voted against it; Waldheim got 10 votes.
Like Salim, a permanent member of waldheim voted against it. Because the procedure for recommending candidates for the Secretary-General is secret ballot, it is impossible to know which permanent member voted, but it goes without saying that the United States voted against Salim and China voted against waldheim. In the next three rounds of voting, waldheim's votes were mostly the same as the previous round, while Salim's votes gradually decreased.
The fifth and sixth rounds of voting were held on the second day, and both Salim and waldheim got 8 votes, 1 1. Due to China's veto again, waldheim failed to "pass".
A week later, the 7th and 8th rounds of voting were held, and Salim won 9 votes and 8 votes respectively. Due to the attitude of China and the United States, neither nomination was passed.
1 17 10/0/7, the Security Council held eight consecutive votes. Salim won 10 and 9 votes in the 9th and 10 rounds respectively, keeping the record of 8 votes in each round. Waldheim won 9 votes in the 5th and 6th rounds except 1 1 and 10. However, Saskatchewan and Wawa received "red cards", and the United States and China voted against it respectively.
China people made up their minds and the nomination was deadlocked. The 20-day marathon voting is becoming more and more severe for China people. At first, there was a saying that China's support for Salim was reserved. After seeing that Salim's nomination was hopeless, he would act according to the camera and give up his support, which made waldheim "have a bright future". After 16 rounds of voting, people finally understood that not only Americans resolutely opposed Salim and spared no effort, but China's veto of waldheim this time was also serious and firm. From the beginning, China's position was highly praised by the representatives of developing countries and the news media. They told me one after another that China "presided over the cause of justice and developing countries and was a true friend of Africa and other developing countries". China's firm stance has also surprised the western media: China's "amazing move" has "started an active stage of foreign policy". Therefore, most Council members no longer stayed at the meeting, but left the voting machine and conducted more activities outside the meeting to find a way to break the deadlock.
The compromise plan came out: First, let waldheim continue to serve before the general election 1 to 3 years; Second, the five-year term of office has simply made waldheim and Salim "equally divided", one person is half; The third is to find another candidate, provided that at least one of the original candidates withdraws. The two schemes of extending the term and "sharing" the term were quickly rejected. In this way, it is the general trend to push another candidate.
On February 3rd, 65438, waldheim first announced his withdrawal from the election. Five days later, Salim made the same choice. The withdrawal of Wa and Sa has created the most important conditions for the new candidates to be "released". Within a few days, candidates for the Secretary-General appeared on the stage like mushrooms after rain. At the busiest time, there were as many as nine people, as well as candidates from Asian, African and Latin American countries, including the famous Peruvian professional diplomat Perez de Cuellar, who was 9 years old.
The candidates are all from developing countries. During that time, I received many letters from candidates asking for support on my desk, and I also received overseas calls in the middle of the night, all from candidates, hoping to get China's support. This is really an exciting moment.
On February/65438+1 1, the Security Council held a secret meeting under the chairmanship of Ambassador Autunni, Permanent Representative of Uganda to the United Nations, and conducted the17th round of voting on candidates. I took part in this unusual vote with Liang and representatives of the members of the Security Council. As a result, de Cuellar won the affirmative vote of 10, and won the honor because no one vetoed it.
On the morning of February 25th, 65438, the 36th UN General Assembly, presided over by President Kittani, unanimously adopted a resolution on the recommendation of the Security Council, appointing De Cuellar as the UN Secretary-General. On behalf of the government of China, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to De Cuellar. Representatives of Asian, African and Latin American countries also pointed out that the emergence of the new Secretary-General is a major victory for developing countries in their struggle against superpower control of the United Nations. They praised China's principled stand of firmly supporting developing countries in the elections. Many policemen at the UN headquarters are black. Although they are Americans, they still don't forget their ancestors-black Africa. When I walked out of the parliament hall, many black policemen gave me thumbs up to express their appreciation and admiration. Although the voting was by secret ballot, everyone knew that the election storm was caused by China's just action. "If water is good, water is good for everything.
",this is the glory of China's diplomacy.
Afterwave explosion
Our actions in the United Nations set a precedent. Since then, the Secretary-General of the United Nations has been elected by turns from one continent to another. After de Cuellar left office, it was Ghali in Egypt, then Annan in Ghana, and now it was Ban Ki-moon in South Korea. Asia may return to Europe in the future. There are points on all continents in the world, generally no more than two sessions. Candidates from developing countries, like candidates from developed countries, can also set foot in the highest position of this highest international organization. Until then, it's hard. This should be said to be China's contribution, but we never want to be the "leader" of developing countries, and we have no prejudice against developed countries. We have no preference for every candidate from developing countries. It is impossible for us to support a candidate from a developing country without giving other candidates from developing countries a chance. We just believe that justice should be upheld and the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations should be held by two groups of countries in turn.
Deng Xiaoping's thought of "never leading" is closely related to the policy of not seeking hegemony. He emphasized this point in different periods, which was targeted. 1982, the new Secretary-General De Cuellar visited China and met with him in Deng Xiaoping. Due to the above-mentioned special background when De Cuellar served as Secretary-General, De Cuellar repeatedly mentioned that China is the leader of developing countries, and "China has special conditions and can play a leading role in developing countries". However, Deng Xiaoping has repeatedly expressed disagreement. He pointed out: "leaders can't do it. Many friends say that China is the leader of developing countries. We said, the boss can't be a pawn, and if the boss is a pawn, it will be broken. Hegemonism has a bad reputation, and it is not good to be the head of a developing country. This is not polite, this is a real political consideration. " When Deng Xiaoping spoke, his firm and sincere attitude made the other party feel that China's words were from the heart. Afterwards, many people in De Cuellar and his party expressed great appreciation for China's position of supporting developing countries, but were unwilling to tell them what to do. After taking office, De Cuellar cooperated well with China and took charge of the United Nations 10.
After leaving office as Secretary-General, waldheim was elected Austrian President and actively developed relations with China during his term of office. In June 2007, waldheim died of illness, and the leaders of China called him "an old friend of the people of China".
Salim1984 became Prime Minister of Tanzania in April. In September of the same year, Salim visited China again, and China was the first country he visited after he became prime minister. From June 65438 to June 0989, Salim served as the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity for three consecutive times, lasting 12 years, which contributed to the promotion of China-Africa friendship.
China and the United States voted dozens of times in a few days.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is nominally the top leader of the United Nations, and candidates must be recommended and appointed by the Security Council. Permanent members of the Security Council have veto power over the appointment and removal of the Secretary-General. Because of the great responsibility of the post of Secretary-General, his candidate has always been one of the focuses of controversy in the Security Council.
Former Secretary-General waldheim is Austrian. 197 1 and 1976 were elected secretary-general of the United nations twice, and 198 1 ran for the third term, which was supported by the United States.
Although China has a good impression on waldheim, it has always hoped that a third-world candidate will be the Secretary-General of the United Nations after resuming its permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Therefore, in the Secretary-General election of 198 1, China supported Tanzanian Salim in the election and resolutely opposed waldheim's re-election, while the United States supported waldheim and opposed Salim. As a result, China and the United States launched a veto war on the candidate for the UN Secretary-General in the UN Security Council. China 181voted for two days from October 27th to 28th 16 times, and rejected waldheim's re-election attempt. In retaliation, the United States also voted 1 16 times in the four days from October 4 to 7, and resolutely prevented Salim from becoming the Secretary-General of the United Nations. China and the United States are deadlocked at the United Nations.
Later, in order to break the deadlock, China and the United States made a compromise, and waldheim and Salim withdrew from the election. As a product of Sino-US compromise, Peruvian de Cuellar ran for election and was elected by secret ballot in the Security Council on February 1 1.
Every dog has its day
The veto power of the Security Council is a product of international reality. Although it has its drawbacks, it also has its rationality and necessity. Its essence is to entrust the important task of maintaining international peace and security to the five major powers to prevent the majority from suppressing the minority to buffer conflicts among the major powers.
At the beginning of the founding of the United Nations, the United States was able to manipulate countries such as Britain and France, and the Soviet Union was in a minority position in the Security Council, so it constantly used its veto power to protect its own demands. Before 1975, that is, in the first 30 years after the founding of the United Nations, the Soviet Union used the veto power 1 14 times, accounting for 90% of its total veto power. The most extreme one was that the Soviet Union voted 15 times in one day, so that the Soviet representative to the United Nations was called "no".
It was not until March 1970 that the United States first used its veto power in the United Nations. Before 1975, the United States used the veto only six times. This shows that in the early days of the founding of the United Nations, the United States had great influence on the United Nations, and even had certain control ability, so it was not necessary to use the veto easily. After 1975, the international prestige and influence of the United States in the United Nations declined, and the United States began to use the veto frequently in the United Nations.
In the more than 30 years after 1975, the United States used the veto over 90 times, accounting for more than 90% of the total veto power used by the United States. On the contrary, the Soviet Union (Russia) only used 17 vetoes during this period, and only used 6 vetoes in the 20 years after 1985. In other words, the United States replaced the Soviet Union as the "veto machine" of the UN Security Council. As the saying goes, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river" also shows that the status of the United States in the United Nations and its ability to manipulate the United Nations are declining, and the United Nations is becoming more and more like the United Nations.
As a latecomer to the Security Council, China has always used the veto carefully. China used the veto power more than 20 times (19 times) to express his demands on the Secretary-General of the United Nations. In addition to vetoing waldheim's re-election in 198 1, he vetoed the UN Secretary-General three times in the 1970s. After the Cold War, China used the veto cautiously, only six times in the past 20 years (including the recent veto on the Syrian issue). This also shows that China has always held a constructive position on the United Nations and international affairs.
(The writer is a researcher at China Institute of Contemporary International Relations and editor-in-chief of Modern International Relations. )
Information: How are China's 27 veto powers used?
The first time: 1972 On August 25th, China vetoed the proposal of the Soviet Union and India on Bangladesh's application to join the United Nations.
The second time:1September 1972 10, when the Security Council discussed the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, China vetoed the amendments proposed by Britain and other countries aimed at Palestinian and Arab countries.
Third time: 1997 65438+ 10/0 China vetoed the draft resolution on sending United Nations military observers to Guatemala.
Fourth time: 65438+1On February 25th, 1999, because the Macedonian government insisted on the so-called "resumption of diplomatic relations" with Taiwan Province Province despite China's solemn warning, China vetoed the Security Council's draft resolution on agreeing to extend the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force in Macedonia.
Fifth time: On June 65438+1October 12, 2007, China vetoed the draft resolution on Myanmar proposed by the United States and Britain.
Sixth time: On July 1 1, 2008, China vetoed the draft resolution on Zimbabwe proposed by the United States and Britain.
Seventh time: 2011010. On October 4th, China vetoed the draft resolution on Syrian issues jointly drafted by France, Britain and other countries.
Eighth time: 2065438+On February 4, 2002, China voted against the draft resolution on Syria submitted by Morocco on behalf of the League of Arab States.
On the issue of the UN Secretary-General, China has vetoed 19 times, plus the eight times mentioned above, so far China has exercised its veto power in the UN Security Council for 27 times.
(Note: Some scholars in academic circles regard Taiwan Province provincial authorities 1955' s veto of Mongolia's accession to the United Nations as China's veto in the United Nations, while others do not count as China 19' s veto of the UN Secretary-General candidate).
Source: Global Magazine No.4, published on February 6, 20 12.
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