In comments on Tuesday, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reiterated that the government of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council “as soon as possible” but that it will take time to achieve this goal due to resistance from current permanent members.
Speaking in the northern Indian city of Shimla, Jaishankar complained that expansion would be slowed by the “influence” of the current five permanent members, but he expressed optimism that India would eventually gain permanent membership, perhaps giving it veto power over any resolutions considered by the council.
The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful international institution. Established in the aftermath of World War II, permanent membership was awarded to the victors of that war: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, and Russia. These great powers regularly use their veto power to support allies or advance their own interests, often preventing the Council from taking any meaningful action. The other 10 members of the Security Council rotate periodically, and non-permanent members are elected every two years. the currentThe ten non-permanent members of the Security Council are Algeria, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Ecuador, Guyana, Slovenia and Switzerland. More than 50 UN Member States have never served on the Security Council.
India, as the world’s most populous and largest democracy, has argued it is the leading candidate for permanent membership and has been one of the most vocal opponents of the current Security Council set-up. In a speech this week, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar lamented that he did not believe the permanent members wanted to cede some of their power to the rest of the world.
“Regarding permanent membership in the UN Security Council, our aim is to become a permanent member as soon as possible. However, this goal will not be achieved soon because permanent membership still has great influence,” he said. Said“They are negotiating issues themselves that affect the whole world, whether it’s Ukraine or Gaza, so they probably don’t want to end up with six or seven or eight,” according to Asian News International (ANI).”
“So, if we have to come, we have to make everyone aware, pressurise and convince them. Only then will our goal be achieved,” he added.
Jaishankar also claimed that India had been asked to become a permanent member of the Security Council 50 years ago but “the government then did not accept. The government did not think the issue should be given such priority.”
Jaishankar said improving India’s status at the United Nations was a priority for Prime Minister Modi. remarks Speaking at a forum on May 24, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar said Japan was one of many allies seeking reforms in the Security Council and generally said “multipolarity” was a global trend that required global reforms.
“India and Japan are close partners in working towards reforming multilateralism, including reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC),” External Affairs Minister Jaishankar said. Quote “I would like to reiterate that the contours of multipolarity are visible today more clearly than ever before. India believes that progress can be made through engagement, dialogue, multipolarity and reformed multilateralism,” he said.
Indian External Affairs Minister Subramanian Jaishankar (L) attends a bilateral meeting with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila, Philippines, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. (Jam Sta Rosa/Pool Photo via The Associated Press)
“We will work with Japan and our Asian partners to achieve a secure, sustainable and prosperous future for Asia,” he asserted. Nikkei Asia Review.
April, Jaishankar Said Reporters reported that in addition to Japan, Germany and Egypt are also working with India to draft reforms to the Security Council.
“There is a growing sentiment across the world that this situation should change and India should become a permanent member. This sentiment is growing every year,” Jaishankar said at the time, reiterating that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza were proof that the Security Council was not functioning.
“There is a sense in the world that the UN has been weakened. There was a deadlock within the UN on the Ukraine war, there was no agreement within the UN on the Gaza issue. If this sense strengthens, I think it will have a better chance of gaining a permanent seat on the UN Security Council,” he said. Predicted.
India’s foreign policy in the Security Council is unlikely to favor either party as expected, as it straddles the divide between Russia, China, where Modi has veto power, and the West. India is part of the BRICS alliance, which initially included Brazil, Russia, China, and South Africa, but was joined this year by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Iran. However, it maintains relatively cordial relations with the United States and is troubled by an increasingly strained relationship with China.
In the Gaza and Ukraine conflicts, India has maintained an unorthodox position, refusing to vocally support either side. India has long maintained close ties with Russia, making it an especially reliable customer for arms and oil sales. The Indian government opposes sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and has increased purchases of Russian oil since 2022. However, India has criticized Russia after reports emerged that anti-Ukrainian forces were tricking Indian citizens into fighting for Russia inside the country.
The Indian government has also been one of Israel’s most prominent supporters since the October 7 massacre by the Hamas terrorist coalition that controls the Gaza Strip.
“The people of India firmly stand with Israel at this difficult time,” PM Modi said in a social media message after the Hamas attack. “India strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”
RP Singh, a senior spokesman for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), described Hamas at the time as “worse than ISIS”, adding: “You can’t say people from both sides were killed because it was Hamas that started it.”
Yet India is part of the BRICS alliance, along with Iran, Hamas’s biggest backer, and vehemently anti-Israel powers such as China and Egypt.
In 2020, after a military clash on the border between the two countries in the summer of that year, reports began to surface that China was one of the most vocal opponents of India’s permanent membership on the Security Council.
“There has been no serious attempt to draw up a unified document to begin formal negotiations. [to expand the council] Due to resistance from some countries, such as China, which are opposed to expanding the membership of the UN Security Council, Hindustan Times“China has been trying to make reforms more affordable for the United Nations since 2011,” the Times reported that year, citing anonymous sources. The paper noted that China supported using “intergovernmental negotiations,” a powerless “informal” group within the UN, to address reforms, but critics complained that it was a way to deprioritize them.
“Indeed, more than 10 years later, there has been no visible progress. [towards text-based negotiations] “The IGN process is simply not working,” K. Nagaraj Naidu, then India’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, wrote in a letter that year. “Indeed, the IGN process has become a convenient smokescreen for those who do not want the Security Council to be reformed.”
