4 members back India for UNSC permanent seat, unspecific on China's support: MEA

The Modi government has accorded the highest priority to getting permanent membership for India in an expanded United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and has secured backing from four out of the five existing such members, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said on Monday. 

In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Muraleedhara said the government has undertaken various initiatives aimed at building international support for India's candidacy and the matter is "consistently taken up during bilateral and multilateral meetings, and in discussions with other countries at all levels, including at the highest levels".

"Four out of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have bilaterally expressed official affirmations of support for India’s candidature to a permanent seat in an expanded UN Security Council," he said, referring to the United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia.

Muraleedhara further informed that the process of UNSC reforms is being presently discussed under the Intergovernmental Negotiation (IGN) framework of the UN General Assembly, where India along with like-minded countries has been pushing for text-based negotiations to commence on an urgent basis.

India is also working alongside other reform-oriented countries through its membership in G-4 (India, Japan, Brazil, and Germany) and the L.69 Group (a cross-regional group of countries from Asia, Africa, and Latin America) for building support among the UN Member States for expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories, he added.

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Is China backing India? Govt not specific

When asked whether the government is seeking the support of China to secure the coveted permanent seat for India, Muraleedharan only referred to a 2015 joint statement issued during PM Narendra Modi's visit to the country in which Beijing said it "supports" New Delhi's aspiration to play a greater role in the world body but didn't specifically back its bid.

"China attaches great importance to India’s status in international affairs as a large developing country, and understands and supports India’s aspiration to play a greater role in the United Nations including in the Security Council," the statement read.

China had then said the two countries support a "comprehensive reform" of the United Nations, including recognizing the imperative of increased participation of developing countries in UN’s affairs and governance structures, "so as to bring more effectiveness to the UN".

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'Problems are with non-Western permanent members'

Countries around the world want India to attain a permanent seat at the UNSC, but some of our problems are with non-Western permanent members, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had earlier told Republic TV. In an apparent hint at China, the EAM said a resistance for reform among the 'old gaurd' is not from Western countries and there are 'multiple games at play'.

"These may not be Western countries (resisting reform). Some of our problems are with non-Western countries. Some of the contestations is between the West and the non-West, some of it between democracies and non-democracies, some of it is between the 1945 order and the changes which happened after that. So there are multiple contradictions and multiple games at play."

(PTI Photo)

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