US embassy cable - 05OTTAWA2097

UNCLAS OTTAWA 002097 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, CA, UNSC 
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE REQUEST: G-4 FRAMEWORK RESOLUTION ON UN 
REFORM 
 
REF: SECSTATE 126870 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: The GOC supports us in opposing the G-4 
proposal.  Canada instead supports a model of Security 
Council reform which would provide for no new permanent seats 
but instead create a new category of eight four-year 
renewable seats and one new two-year non-permanent (and 
non-renewable) seat, divided among the major regional 
players.  End Summary 
 
2. (SBU) Ambassador delivered reftel demarche to Foreign 
Affairs Canada Assistant Deputy Minister for Global Issues 
David Malone.  Malone was familiar with our brief, and said 
that where there is a difference in the U.S. and Canadian 
positions, it is in the details.  He said he understands that 
the U.S. is open to the possibility of new Security Council 
seats, albeit not the six suggested by the G-4.  Canada does 
not want to see any new permanent seats on the Security 
Council at all.  It can live with the current permanent 
members but believes that adding additional permanent seats 
would limit accountability by spreading the Security Council 
too thin.  In addition, the GOC believes that the members we 
would add today may not be the ones we would want to see on 
the council 60 years from now, just as the five original 
members made sense at the time but would not be the choice 
today. 
 
3. (SBU) Malone said that the Japanese Ambassador had been in 
to see him that morning to press Japan's case for a seat. 
The GOC has tried to politely inform Japan and others who are 
lobbying that Canada has taken a different approach to 
Security Council reform and so cannot support their 
membership, but have assured them that it is nothing 
personal.  Canada would like to maintain its position without 
harming bilateral relations, in contrast to China, which he 
described as having a "nearly dangerous expression of no 
expansion." 
 
4. (SBU) Whatever our differences, Malone said, the U.S. and 
Canada are united in their concern about too large an 
expansion.  For a country that takes UN reform seriously, 
Malone said, Canada worries that problemsolvers will take 
their business elsewhere if the UN, either because of a large 
dysfunctional Security Council, or because the larger reform 
agenda was derailed by Security Council discussions, becomes 
ineffective. 
 
5. (SBU) Comment: The GOC position on Security Council reform 
is summarized as follows in FAC documents:  "We support Model 
B, which provides no new permanent seats but creates a new 
category of eight four-year renewable-term seats and one new 
two-year non-permanent (and non-renewable) seat, divided 
among the major regional areas.  The longer term (four years) 
of the members of the new tier provides for continuity and 
depth of experience with issues before the Council.  The 
possible re-election for members in this tier reinforces the 
benefits noted above, and the requirements for peer-vetting 
and support will encourage potential Security Council members 
to keep their credentials as good international citizens in 
order.  We also look forward to recommendations that go well 
beyond the Security Council.  For example, the need to set 
out measures to facilitate an integrated response to the 
diverse range of security challenges we face from the 
proliferation of terrorism to improving UN coordination on 
development, health, and environment.  End Comment 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
WILKINS