US embassy cable - 05WELLINGTON590

C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON 000590 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR P, IO/UNP, EAP/FO, AND EAP/ANP 
NSC FOR VCHA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/01/2015 
TAGS: KUNR, PREL, PGOV, UNGA 
SUBJECT: UNSC REFORM: NEW ZEALAND WILL ABSTAIN FROM G-4 VOTE 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 137602 
 
     B. WELLINGTON 496 
 
Classified By: Charge David R. Burnett, 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C) This message contains an action request, at paras 2 
and 8. 
 
2.  (C) Summary: New Zealand is likely to abstain if a G-4 
reform vote is brought before the General Assembly.  GNZ 
officials have offered to encourage undecided Pacific Island 
governments to vote down or abstain from the resolution if 
that would be helpful to us.  Please advise.  End Summary. 
 
3.  (C) On July 29, Pol/Econ (PE) Couns discussed Ref A 
points with Joan Mosely and Wen Powles, Director and Deputy 
Director of the UN and Commonwealth Division at the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).  The two officials were 
unaware that the G-4 and African Union had reached agreement 
on a UNSC reform proposal.  Mosely said that as of that point 
New Zealand had no position on the G-4 proposal.  She 
reiterated GNZ's position (Ref B) that the current structure 
of the UNSC was unrepresentative and anachronistic, and that 
any UNSC expansion should include Japan.  Mosely also shared 
with PE Couns the July 12 statement in which Rosemary Banks, 
NZ's UN PermRep, explained why New Zealand opposed the reform 
proposal then before UNGA.  Banks statement noted that New 
Zealand continues to oppose any extension of the UNSC veto 
and believes that any added UNSC positions should be subject 
to periodic review. 
 
4.  (C) Mosely stressed that New Zealand sees the UNSC reform 
process as very important and does not want to see it fail. 
PE Couns agreed, but noted that the United States believes a 
contentious vote on UNSC reform at this time could undermine 
the even more pressing debate on overall UN reform.  She 
reminded Mosely that the United States and New Zealand agree 
on the need to rationalize the UN's Human Rights work as well 
as other reform issues (Ref B). 
 
5.  (C) Mosely said that the latest G-4 proposal she had seen 
had not meet the principles that UN PermRep Banks had 
outlined, but she reiterated that GNZ did not yet have a 
formal position on a G-4 resolution.  That position, she 
said, would be decided "at the highest level" (i.e., by PM 
Clark) after a review of the G-4/AU proposal.  Mosely noted 
that the Embassies of Japan, Brazil, Italy had all been in to 
see MFAT on the reform issue. 
 
6.  (C) On August 2, the Charge had a follow-up conversation 
about the G-4 proposal with Foreign Minister Goff, who had 
just returned from the ASEAN meeting in Laos.  The Minister 
told the Charge that New Zealand would likely abstain from 
any vote on the G-4 proposal should it be put before the 
General Assembly.  He admitted that this would be easier than 
going back to Japan and others to explain why New Zealand 
would vote against the resolution. 
 
7.  (C) Goff said that he would be willing to speak to 
undecided Pacific Island countries to encourage them to 
oppose the G-4 resolution.  He asked that the Embassy let him 
know of any countries where such an approach would be useful. 
 Goff said he was expecting a call from the Chinese Foreign 
Minister about this issue.  He also asked if the United 
States has been lobbying the Australian government to cease 
its support for the G-4 resolution.  The Charge said that the 
last reporting that he had seen indicated that GOA officials 
are still planning to back the G-4 proposal. 
 
8.  (C) Action request: Please advise Post if we should ask 
Minister Goff to approach Pacific Island countries about the 
G-4 proposal. 
Burnett