China and Russia to vote in favor of Palestinian UN bid

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- Both China and Russia, two of the five permanent members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, will vote in favor of Palestine's request to become a UN member state, although the bid is unlikely to succeed.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday handed over an application to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to request a full UN membership for Palestine, which currently has observer status. Ban later sent the request to the President of the Security Council as per the provisions of the UN Charter.

Any application for a full membership is considered by the Security Council, which decides whether or not to recommend admission to the 193-member General Assembly. If it does give a recommendation, the Assembly would then have to adopt a resolution.

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi voiced Beijing's support to grant UN membership to the Palestinian people. "We support efforts to achieve the two-state solution through political negotiations so as to establish, on the basis of the 1967 borders, an independent Palestinian state that enjoys full sovereignty with East Jerusalem as its capital," Yang was quoted as saying by the DPA news agency.

In addition, the Interfax news agency cited a source from the Russian delegation at the UN General Assembly as saying that Russia will also support the Palestinian request. "If this issue is put to a vote, we will support it," the source said.

Both China and Russia are permanent members of the UN Security Council. However, the United States earlier said it would veto a Palestinian bid to seek a full UN membership and urged them to return to peace talks with Israel. If a veto is used by any of the permanent members, the UN Security Council would be unable to recommend admission to the General Assembly.

About 120 out of 193 countries have currently recognized the State of Palestine and those are seen as possible supporters if the UN General Assembly votes on the issue. If the UN Security Council resolution to recognize Palestine is approved, Palestine would become the 194th member of the United Nations.

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Source: WireUpdate.
Link: http://wireupdate.com/news/china-and-russia-to-vote-in-favor-of-palestinian-un-bid.html.