AU's decision won't derail UNSC expansion: G-4

The G-4, which met on Friday with co-sponsors including France after AU's decision to go ahead with their resolution for a permanent seat for an African country with veto power, were of unanimous view that at best, it would cause some delay in the vote on their framework resolution but certainly not derail the process.

Asked whether AU's decision constituted a major setback for G-4, a senior diplomat coming out of the meeting said, "Major setback? It is not even a minor setback."

Diplomats also did not agree that the US and China working together would do much damage to the G-4 vote base. Their efforts have already peaked and some have gone over them but some come to G-4 fold and net numbers do not change, they asserted.

They also downplayed the much-touted agreement between the US and China to work together to defeat G-4 resolution, noting Washington and Beijing had different reasons to oppose.

For example, they said the US strongly supports Japan and China's main plank is opposition to Tokyo. "How would they reconcile the position? In any case, much work is being done in capitals where the decisions would be taken," they said.

However, all agreed that vote on the resolution would be delayed but declined to speculate whether it would be held before or after the three-day world leaders' summit at UN scheduled to begin on September 14.