Japan made the United States "uncomfortable" and weakened Washington's support for its bid to become a permanent U.N. Security Council member by forming the Group of Four alliance, a former senior Bush administration official said in a recent interview.
"The United States was uncomfortable with (the alliance) and that tended to dilute the enthusiasm of the United States for expansion in general," said Kim Holmes, who until June was assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs.
Holmes, currently vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, said this is why the U.S. distanced itself from Japan's UNSC bid and eventually opposed the resolution for the council's enlargement proposed by the G4, which included Brazil, Germany and India.