BEIJING - Members of the United Nations should arrive at a broad consensus on the reform of the UN Security Council, rather than let "premature plans" harm the reform process, Foreign Ministry said over the weekend.

"Experience has proven that presetting results for the reform or forcing premature reform plans will not only undermine the unity of UN member nations, but also harm the reform process, which will not be in line with any party's interests," said the ministry's spokesman Ma Zhaoxu on Saturday.

Earlier on the same day, India, Brazil, Germany and Japan - also known as the G4 nations - issued a joint statement stating that their proposal of enlarging the council was widely supported by UN member nations. The G4 insisted tangible results be achieved before the current session of the UN General Assembly ends in September.

In the report ministers of the G4 nations did not indicate how many or which countries have sided with them. The proposal called for an expansion in both the permanent and non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council to 26 from the current 15 members.

China held that UN member nations should seek a package of solutions for the reform, on the basis of broad and democratic consultation among member nations to accommodate the interests and concerns of all the parties, Ma said.

He said though some positive progress had been made since the launch of inter-government negotiations on the reform, there are still serious differences among the member nations over certain important issues.

In the meantime there is no broad acceptance among the 192 UN member countries on how to reform the world's supreme peace and security body.

Three of the G4 nations - Brazil, India and Germany - are currently serving two-year terms on the council, and the five permanent members are the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom.

Five rounds of inter-governmental negotiations on the security council reform have been held since 2009.

Wu Miaofa, former counselor with the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations, told China Daily that it is unlikely that an outcome will be reached before September.

"Many countries want to join the council as it in a way says something about their political status. Though that is understandable, the process should be made with democratic consultations. If they want to force their way in, then it will probably end in a failure," Wu said.

Due to differences the governments have with each other, Wu said not much has been achieved since negotiations started in 2009. "The reform will proceed when consensus is reached among all players in different regions, and there has to be a lot of patience," he added.

China Daily

(China Daily 02/14/2011 page11)