国内英语新闻:China assumes rotating UN Security Council presidency for January

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday assumed the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of January.

    China will perform its duty as the rotating Council president in an objective and fair way and work with other Council members to maintain international peace and security, said Zhang Yesui, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, in a recent interview.

    China will do its utmost to make sure that the Security Council works in a smooth and efficient way, Zhang added.

    The Security Council presidency rotates among the Council members in the English alphabetical order of their names. Each president holds office for one calendar month. China previously assumed the presidency in October 2008.

    As a permanent member of the Security Council and the largest developing country in the world, China fully participates in the work of the United Nations and plays a constructive role, Zhang said.

    Under the UN Charter, the Security Council has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in the world at large.

    The Council has 15 members: five permanent members -- China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States -- and 10 non-permanent members elected by the UN General Assembly for two-year terms.

    Also on Friday, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria began their two-year terms on the 15-nation Council.

    The five new Security Council members were chosen after running uncontested races for the non-permanent seats, and they were duly elected by the 192-member General Assembly during a secret ballot at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in October 2009.

    The five countries joined Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda, whose terms on the Council end on Dec. 31, 2010.