Asia gives green light to Ban’s 2nd term

China and the Asian Group have thrown their support behind United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon’s candidacy for a second five-year term as UN secretary-general.

 

Li Baodong, Chinese permanent representative to the UN, made the announcement Monday in New York after a breakfast meeting in which Ban spoke with leaders from the Asian Group, composed of 53 member states the South Korean diplomat represents at the UN.

 

Ban, 66 and a former South Korean foreign minister, announced his candidacy for a second term at the meeting with the Asian Group to explain his performance over the past five years and why he deserves a second term.

 

“The leaders from the (Asian) group support him unanimously,” said Li, who added that Ban is a good candidate and has done a satisfactory job in his first term leading the world body.

 

Ban has made important contributions to strengthening the role of the organization in peace, development and international affairs as a secretary-general from an Asian country, Li said.

 

Ban had already secured the support of the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia (all of whom are veto-wielding permanent members in the Security Council) in March.

 

“China supports Mr Ban Ki-moon’s bid for re-election, and hopes that he will gain the extensive support from all parties,” Li said.

 

Ban succeeded the Ghanaian diplomat and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan in early 2007 after running against Shashi Tharoor, an Indian politician who was former UN under-secretary-general for communications and public information.

 

Experts have said that Ban won the election despite Tharoor’s previous experience in the UN because member states preferred someone outside the organization to show more transparency in the election process.

 

Leaders in the Asian Group said they will now seek out the 15-member Security Council to nominate Ban. The Security Council will later send a recommendation to the General Assembly for ratification. South Korea’s Ambassador Park In-kook indicated that the re-election process may be completed by the end of this month. No other candidate has emerged to oppose Ban.

 

After Ban announced his candidacy, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe quickly welcomed Ban’s decision in a statement.

 

After meeting with the Asian Group, Ban plans to meet with UN’s other regional groups from Africa, Latin America, and Eastern and Western Europe in the next two days to discuss his candidacy.

 

The soft-spoken South Korean diplomat has received praise and criticism for his performance during his first term.

 

Before he took the post as secretary-general, the former South Korean foreign minister worked hard to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

 

He has put climate change at the top of his agenda and has made strong commitments to empowering women and disarming nuclear weapons. He has also shown strong support for pro-democracy demonstrators in North Africa and in the Middle East as well as for military intervention in Cote d’Ivoire and Libya.

 

According to Reuters, some diplomats say Ban has been inconsistent on human rights and has only taken hard stances in cases where at least one of the five permanent Security Council members backed him.

 

But Ban said he was proud of what the UN has achieved in the past four and a half years on climate change and said he will continue to put that at the top of his agenda, China Daily reports.