Enlargement of the permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council could take many years to become a reality because of complicated and lengthy procedures as well as the complexity of international politics, says an official.

Shashi Tharoor, the UN under secretary-general for communications and public information, said any of the five original permanent members could exercise its veto power to ultimately decide on the national composition of the enlarged permanent membership. The five are the United States, China, Britain, Russia and France.

Asked if the ultimate scenario would arise where China might veto Japan's attempt to become a new permanent member, Tharoor declined "to speculate".

He said this at a meet-the-press session in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, where he responded to questions on a number of current issues.

China has reportedly expressed support for the bids made by India and Germany for positions, but has not stated its position yet in the case of Japan

Several weeks ago, China saw widespread and sometimes violent demonstrations in its cities, protesting against Japan's World War II atrocities in China, the revision of Japan's history textbooks, and the much-criticised visit of Japanese politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine.

Malaysia has expressed its support for Japan's bid, although civil society groups have called for this to be reconsidered .

Brazil is another country aspiring to join the enlarged Security Council as a permanent member.

General resolution

Tharoor said a draft resolution is expected to be jointly submitted by "a group of countries" to the UN General Assembly next month, seeking to enlarge the council's permanent membership.

"For the resolution to be passed and executed, it needs a two-third majority or the support of 128 countries in the General Assembly, as well as (the absence of) objection by any one of the original five permanent members of the council," he said.

"That would most likely be a general resolution without naming any countries to be admitted to the enlarged council".

However, he also said, the UN Secretariat has not received any formal notification or submission of the draft as yet.

The question of enlargement and its details would also be discussed by UN member-states at a summit scheduled for Sept 14-16.

Image tarnished

Tharoor also said the 'oil-for-food scandal' has tarnished the image of the UN and its secretariat but claimed that the issues had been blown out of proportion.

"The world still needs the United Nations. The 'oil-for-food' programme benefitted many Iraqis and did good work," he asserted.

On the membership dues owed by the United States, he said the UN had yet to receive "several hundred million dollars" that were outstanding.

Tharoor also brushed off the allegation that the United Nations is just a 'talk-shop', quipping: "Talking is certainly better than fighting (wars)."

As to whether the next UN secretary-general should be an Asian, he said there is no provision in the UN Charter stipulating that it must be so.

"There is also no provision as to the term limit of the secretary-general; it is all up to the General Assembly to decide and the Security Council to accept," he said.

However, he added that the incumbent, Kofi Annan, is certain to leave the post upon expiry of his term.

Annan's predecessors were Egypt's Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Peru's Javier Perez de Cuellar, Austria's Kurt Waldheim, Burma's U Thant, Sweden's Dag Hammarskjold and Norway's Trygve Lie.