President Hu Jintao said Wednesday that the past decades have shown that the UN Security Council has indeed had an irreplaceable role to play in resolving major global and regional issues bearing on world peace and security.

Hu, who arrived in New York Tuesday to attend the UN summit on the 60th anniversary of its establishment, made the remarks in his statement titled "Uphold the Authority of the Security Council and Strengthen Collective Security Mechanism" that was delivered at the UN Security Council.

He said the world is far from a tranquil place as border disputes, territorial conflicts, regional strife and other traditional security concerns continue unabated and non-traditional ones, such as poverty, terrorism, transnational crimes and deadly communicable diseases, keep cropping up.

In order to maintain peace, "We should make sure that the Security Council is able to discharge its responsibility under the UN Charter," said Hu.

He proposed his four-point opinion in this regard.

The first is to uphold the Security Council's authority by adhering to multilateralism and when it comes to major issues bearing on world peace and security, the council should be left to judge on the merits of the actual situation and act collectively in accordance with the UN Charter.

The second is to improve the council's efficiency so as to respond to threats more effectively. China supports an enhanced role of the Security Council in responding to terrorism and other non-traditional security threats, and closer cooperation between the UN and other international or regional organizations in the interest of sharing resources, advantages and strength and responsibilities.

The third is to improve the council's decision-making by giving greater expression to democratic principles. China stands for an enlarged Security Council based on a broad consensus, and increased representation of developing countries, African countries in particular, thus giving more countries, especially the small and medium-sized countries greater access to its decision-making.

The fourth is to pay closer attention to African concerns and increase the council's input accordingly.

Hu said China has always supported the UN in building a new security consensus and maintaining the central role of the Security Council in the world's collective security mechanism.

China is ready to work with other member states in advancing the lofty cause of peace and development, noted Hu.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2005)