Nation understands subjecting UNSC veto to debate, also raises concern

The UN General Assembly passed a resolution that allows it to convene automatically when a veto is cast. China’s UN representative said that China understands the original intention of the move, but is also concerned over the procedural confusion and inconsistency in practice it may cause, and whether it can achieve its intended purpose.

A General Assembly meeting will automatically be triggered within 10 days after a veto is cast by one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, Russia, the US, the UK and France.

China supports the UN General Assembly in fulfilling its responsibilities and playing an active and important role as mandated by the UN Charter. Thus, we can understand and agree with the original intention of this resolution, Jiang Hua, Chinese counselor of the Permanent Representative of China to the UN, said in his explanatory statement.

“We are in favor of member states discussing on the platform of the UN General Assembly regarding disagreements among the permanent members, which prevent the UNSC from taking action on major issues related to peace and security,” Jiang said.

The resolution gave the UN General Assembly a new mandate – establishing a mechanism to automatically trigger the UN General Assembly to hold a meeting – which “in practice is likely to cause procedural confusion and inconsistency,” Jiang noted.

The Chinese counselor said that it is difficult to determine whether such an arrangement will achieve the intended purpose of the resolution.

Adoption of the resolution, which does not eliminate the veto power of five permanent members of the UNSC but requires a debate on that proposal, came after Russia cast a veto on its special military operations in Ukraine.

The purpose of the resolution is to uphold genuine multilateralism, maintain common security and seek common development, but such an arrangement may weaken the role of the veto in balancing direct confrontations of major powers established since World War II, said Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Though debate may result in the voices of more countries being heard, it generates more unnecessary noise, which cannot effectively affect any decision of the UNSC, but would only interrupt the decision- making process, he said.