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Brazil, Germany, India and Japan are pushing for seats on the UN Security Council.
The four countries circulated a draft resolution on Monday, asking if the Security Council could be increased from 15 to 25 members with four permanent seats for themselves and two nations from Africa.
The draft says the new permanent members should have "the same responsibilities and obligations" as the existing veto-wielding permanent members -- the US, Russia, China, Britain and France.
Expansion of the Security Council is an issue concerning the future of the UN, the world's largest multilateral mechanism, and the immediate interests of every country.
Decisions should be made on the basis of extensive discussions from the member nations of the world organization.
After 60 years of development, the UN is in desperate need of reform to adapt itself to the changing world.
Reform, including possible expansion of the membership, has been discussed since 1993 by a special task force set up under the UN General Assembly.
Sharp schisms remain over such thorny questions as which nations deserve permanent seats, how far to expand the make-up of the Council and whether new permanent members should be granted veto power.
A high-level panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, made up of 16 eminent people from different fields of expertise and representing all the continents of the globe, appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, presented recommendations in December on how the UN can transform itself.
In an indication of the difficulties lying ahead, there is lack of unanimity even in this small group of renowned specialists insofar as expanding the Security Council is concerned.
As a way out, the panel has suggested two alternative models as a basis for discussion by member states.
Proposal A is to add three new non-permanent members to the 10 current rotating two-year members, and six new permanent members.
The six new permanent seats will not be able to veto decisions and will be split into two nations from Asia, two from Africa, one from Europe and one from the Americas.
Proposal B would create a new category of eight semi-permanent seats, which would be regionally distributed with renewable four-year terms.
Both proposals aim at enlarging the Security Council to command greater respect, especially in the developing world, by bringing its membership closer to the realities of today's world.
Obviously, there is so far a gap between the positions of many countries and the core content of the draft resolution circulated by the four nations.
Pakistan, Italy and other mid-size countries are pushing a rival plan to expand the Security Council, and several other options are being floated.
Given the great divergence among member countries, any hasty decisions on the Security Council's expansion will only inflame rifts and thus would be detrimental to all member states and the process of the world body's reform.
The reform, which is expected to herald a new future of the UN, will not be easy.
All relevant parties should start from the overall and long-term interests of the world body, follow the stipulations and spirit of its Charter and carry out extensive and in-depth consultations, in a bid to push for a common consensus among member states to realign the UN to respond better to today's pressing challenges.
(China Daily May 19, 2005)
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