SECURITY COUNCIL RECOMMENDS ADMISSION OF TUVALU; ADOPTS RESOLUTION 1290 (2000) BY 14-0-1 (CHINA)
Press Release
SC/6807
SECURITY COUNCIL RECOMMENDS ADMISSION OF TUVALU; ADOPTS RESOLUTION 1290 (2000) BY 14-0-1 (CHINA)
20000217The Security Council this morning recommended to the General Assembly that Tuvalu be admitted for membership to the United Nations. That admission would bring to 189 the Organizations total membership.
Adopting resolution 1290 (2000) by a vote of 14 in favour to none against, with 1 abstention (China), the Council acted upon the recommendation of the Committee on Admission of New Members, to which the application of Tuvalu had been referred for examination. The final decision on the granting of United Nations membership rests with the General Assembly.
Speaking before the vote, the representative of China who, in the report of the membership Committee (S/2000/70) indicated that China could not associate itself with the Committees recommendation, said his delegation had attached great importance to the desire of Tuvalu to join the United Nations and had made a serious study of its application. A Member State of the United Nations should truly implement the obligations of the United Nations Charter and seriously abide by the resolutions of the General Assembly, which was an important basis on which to judge whether an applicant country had met the standard for membership.
He reiterated that the most important thing was that the principles and purposes of the Charter should be implemented, as well as General Assembly resolution 27/58. Flowing from that primary obligation, he could not support the recommendation to the Assembly for acceptance of Tuvalu's membership. At the same time, given his countrys long-term shared interests with the people of Tuvalu and the strong wish of the Pacific States to admit that country, his delegation would not block the recommendation. Hopefully, he added, after joining the United Nations Tuvalu could strictly abide by the United Nations Charter and implement the relevant General Assembly resolution.
Following the action, the Council President, Arnoldo M. Listre (Argentina), read out the following statement on behalf of the Council:
The Security Council has decided to recommend to the General Assembly that Tuvalu be admitted as a Member of the United Nations. On behalf of the members of the Council, I wish to extend my congratulations to Tuvalu on this historic occasion.
Security Council - 2 - Press Release SC/6807 4103rd Meeting (AM) 17 February 2000
"The Council notes with great satisfaction Tuvalus solemn commitment to uphold the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and to fulfil all the obligations contained therein. We look forward to the day in the near future when Tuvalu will join us as a Member of the United Nations and to working closely with its representatives.
The statement will be issued as S/PRST/2000/6.
The meeting was called to order at 11:20 a.m. and adjourned at 11:29 a.m.
Resolution
The full text of resolution 1290 (2000) reads as follows:
"The Security Council,
"Having examined the application of Tuvalu for admission to the United Nations (S/2000/5),
"Recommends to the General Assembly that Tuvalu be admitted to membership in the United Nations."
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