Asian UN tiff

According to the NYTimes, there is a "grass-roots" effort in China to oppose Japans placement on the UN security council. Somehow, the Times thinks that "allowing" the people to participate doesn't compromise the integrity of the petition.

By allowing millions of people to sign their names to a petition against Japan,
Beijing's new leadership seems determined to show that recent Japanese actions
have so inflamed popular sentiment that China has no choice but to adopt a
tougher diplomatic line.

To my thinking, in any fair world, a democratic nation that contributes as much financially to the UN should have a greater role in decision making. However this is the UN, and Russia, China, and France (two dictatorships and an old woman) get vetoes, while Japan and India don't.
Some make the claim that Japan hasn't atoned for past imperial abuses...

North and South Korea...argue that Tokyo has not done as much as Germany to
atone for its imperialist abuses and that it cannot become a leading member of
the international community unless it addresses the legacy of mistrust among its
neighbors.

...but nothing is said about current human rights abuses in other veto weilding members. We'll see how the UN shapes up, but I'm not to hopeful.