[JURIST] Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura [official profile] and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi [official website] are continuing their bid for Japan [JURIST news archive] to become a member of the UN Security Council [official website] as part of ongoing discussion on UN reform [JURIST news archive]. Koizumi addressed [PDF statement] the UN's 2005 World Summit [official website] on Thursday and argued that Asia and Africa, no longer colonized, should be recognized as significant players in the global community. He also pushed for "long obsolete 'enemy state' clauses" to be removed from the UN charter. Japan's push to become part of the council comes shortly after the death of the G4 draft proposal [JURIST report] which tried to boost the Council's membership to 25 with Brazil, Germany, India and Japan as new members. The G4 proposal was opposed by China and US and failed to get enough support from other permanent member states, who have the right to veto any resolution. Other heads of state also used the UN summit as an opportunity to call for Security Council reform. Chinese President Hu Jintao [BBC profile] asserted that developing countries are underrepresesented [PDF statement] in the Security Council. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf [Wikipedia profile] said that the goal of the Council should be to expand membership [PDF statement] by reflecting the entire spectrum of the UNÂ?s membership. AFP has more.