Japan has been a member of the United Nations since 18 December 1956 and served as a non-permanent Security Council member for a total of 20 years. Japan is one of the G4 nations seeking to gain permanent membership of the Security Council. In 2004, the former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan announced a plan to expand the number of permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council. Despite being the third largest national economy in the world in terms of nominal GDP, with global political influence, some debate whether or not a country with no official standing military can be considered a world power that should have a permanent seat on the council.