A day after the meeting, Hyder wrote a detailed letter to Iftikhar Arain, the Pakistan Ambassador in Nairobi, who was to attend the summit, with copies to Pakistan missions in New York and Beijing. In that letter, Hyder recalled the points made by the Chinese Ambassador at the meeting and enclosed the list of “talking points” which the Chinese envoy had been given from Beijing.

According to Hyder’s letter, the Chinese Ambassador had observed: “Recently, the G4 has intensified its internal coordination and intended to take the opportunity of AU summit and push AU to adjust its common ground and get it merged with or make it closer to the G4 scheme.”

He conveyed to Hyder that the Coffee Club, also known as United For Consensus (UFC) club — Pakistan, Italy, Argentina, Mexico and South Korea — should remain alert. “The AU has an overall impact on the situation of the UNSC reform. The UFC should keep high alert on these new trends among the AU as well as G4. The AU is more likely to tilt towards the G4 if it adjusts its common ground. The top priority for us now us, with utmost efforts, to prevent AU from adjusting its common ground, pushed by the G4 by using the discussion of transitional approach and the AU Summit in July”.

The details, which are now available through intelligence inputs with New Delhi, show clear backing of China with the Ambassador going to the extent of suggesting the strategy to be adopted at the summit.

... contd.