China's permanent representative to the United Nations Zhang Jun addresses the 33rd plenary of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on November 25 (XINHUA)

"China supports reasonable and necessary reform of the Security Council to meet the needs of the times. Priority should be given to increasing representation and say of developing countries, especially African countries," Zhang Jun, China's Permanent Representative to the UN, said at the 33rd plenary of the 74th Session of the General Assembly on November 25.  

The year 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the UN and the end of World War II. As a major outcome of the war, the world body's objectives include maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights and upholding international law.  

"Security Council reform concerns the vital interests of all UN member states and the future of the UN, and will lead to major adjustment of the global governance system and international order," Zhang said.  

There were 11 members when the Security Council was established in 1945, and the UN had 51 members. In 1965, four non-permanent members were elected, bringing the membership of the Security Council to 15. Since then, the number of UN members has continued to increase, reaching 193. However, the number of Security Council members remains unchanged.  

The ambassador pointed out that 63 UN member countries have never made their way to the Security Council till now. Some of the small and medium-sized countries get a seat on the council every 40 to 50 years. 

"This is regrettable and unfair. Reform must increase the opportunities for small and medium-sized countries to sit on the council and participate in its decision-making process," Zhang said. 

With multilateralism under attack, unity and cooperation are the UN's greatest needs.  

As the members have serious disagreements on the general direction of reform, Zhang said rushing into text-based negotiation, setting an artificial timeline, or even trying to force through any premature reform proposal would do no good to the sound development of the reform process. 

"The intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) are the only legitimate platform for discussion on Security Council reform. We hope that the IGN of the current General Assembly session will keep to the right track of being membership-driven and carry out in-depth discussion," Zhang stressed.