UNITED NATIONS, Dec 2: Expressing concern over the momentum towards an agreement at the United Nations to expand the 15-member Security Council, a Chinese official is quoted by Wikileaks, saying in a secret diplomatic cable that such a move would dilute their powers.

According to a report in Foreign Policy magazine, he unnamed Chinese official urged the US Charge d’Affaires, Dan Piccuta, not to be “proactive” in promoting the expansion of the Security Council.

The Chinese felt that such a development was “not good” for the council’s five permanent members, the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia.

“The P-5 ‘club’ should not be ‘diluted,’” the Chinese official told his American counterpart. “If we end up with a ‘P-10,’” both China and the United States “’would be in trouble”.

An April 2009 meeting in Beijing came as a group of four influential powers — Brazil, Germany, India and Japan, the so-called Group of Four — were pressing aggressively for a vote in the UN General Assembly on a revision of the UN Charter that would allow for the expansion of the Security Council.

The initiative unravelled in the face of intense opposition from the Group of 4’s regional competitors led by Pakistan and Italy known as Uniting for Consensus (UFC) and a demand by African countries that they be given at least two permanent seats with veto power.

The Chinese official told the United States that it would be difficult for the Chinese public to accept Japan, as a permanent member of the Security Council.

Mr Piccuta replied that the United States still had no position on which countries should gain admittance into the council, but said: “It was hard to envision any expansion of the council that did not include Japan, which was the second largest contributor to the UN budget.”

The Obama administration has since thrown its support behind India’s bid for a Security Council seat, but has shown little inclination to press for the council’s enlargement for the time being.

Mr Piccuta also cautioned China that the UN’s five big powers should allow other member states to “state their positions” on an expanded council “freely and openly without undue P-5 influence”. The two diplomats had free and frank discussions which were included in Wikileaks cables.