06-21-2006, 08:53 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>China mum on Tharoor's bid for Secretary General's post </b>
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Beijing, June. 20 (PTI): China today kept mum on India's candidate, Shashi Tharoor's bid for the post of UN Secretary General but said relevant parties should have "full deliberations" on the selection issue. It also favoured that the next Secretary General should be an Asian.
"The next UN Secretary General is a major event of the United Nations. We believe that relevant parties should have full deliberations on this," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu told reporters here at a briefing. Jiang did not comment on Tharoor's bid when asked specifically about his candidacy for the top UN post.
However, she pointed out that since Asia has not had any UN Secretary General for 34 years, China thinks that the next UN Secretary General should come from an Asian country. The spokeswoman also noted that there was consensus within Asia and Africa that the next UN Secretary General should be an Asian, which is accepted by the international community.
<b>There is a strong feeling among the diplomatic circles here that China, the only Asian country with veto rights in the UNSC, favours Thai Deputy Prime Minister, Surakiat Sathirathai, who is the leading candidate from Asia for the coveted UN post.</b>
Tharoor, currently U.N. Under Secretary-General for Communication and Public Information, was formally nominated for the post last week
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Beijing, June. 20 (PTI): China today kept mum on India's candidate, Shashi Tharoor's bid for the post of UN Secretary General but said relevant parties should have "full deliberations" on the selection issue. It also favoured that the next Secretary General should be an Asian.
"The next UN Secretary General is a major event of the United Nations. We believe that relevant parties should have full deliberations on this," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu told reporters here at a briefing. Jiang did not comment on Tharoor's bid when asked specifically about his candidacy for the top UN post.
However, she pointed out that since Asia has not had any UN Secretary General for 34 years, China thinks that the next UN Secretary General should come from an Asian country. The spokeswoman also noted that there was consensus within Asia and Africa that the next UN Secretary General should be an Asian, which is accepted by the international community.
<b>There is a strong feeling among the diplomatic circles here that China, the only Asian country with veto rights in the UNSC, favours Thai Deputy Prime Minister, Surakiat Sathirathai, who is the leading candidate from Asia for the coveted UN post.</b>
Tharoor, currently U.N. Under Secretary-General for Communication and Public Information, was formally nominated for the post last week
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