So much for all the hindi-chini bhai bhai. The Indian foreign secretary Shyam Saran shot off his mouth declaring that China understands and supports India's bid to become permanent member in the revamped UN Security council.
Here is what he said :
"China understands and supports the aspirations of India to become a permanent member of the Security Council,".(Yahoo News)
I fail to understand why the foreign secretary has to say something so out of step with what the chinese have actually conveyed.
Nobody believes that China is going to support India's bid for the council seat so easily. Its illogical for China to do so without extracting any concessions from India.
A look at the Joint Statement of the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China dated April 11, 2005 would amply make China's stand on India's bid clear. Read this :
"XVI. The two sides reiterated the importance of the United Nations in global peace, stability and common development .... Both India and China agree that reform of the United Nations should be comprehensive and multi-faceted and should put emphasis on an increase in the representation of developing countries. The Indian side reiterated its aspirations for permanent membership of the UN Security Council. The Chinese side also reiterated that India is an important developing country and is having an increasingly important influence in the international arena. China attaches great importance to the status of India in international affairs. It understands and supports India’s aspirations to play an active role in the UN and international affairs. The two sides reaffirmed their readiness to conduct close consultations and cooperation in the process of UN reforms."
The underlined portion is the operative part. All that China has said is it supports India playing an active role in the affairs of the United Nations. The word "council" or even any words/phrase synonymous with "top UN bodies", etc are totally absent.
China has not changed its earlier stand calling for a consensus mechanism to be used to pick the new set of permanent members. And India has not been able to do anything about it.
I am sure once the Chinese Premier winds up his visit and heads home, the chinese foreign ministry will issue a series of clarifications to put things in proper perspective.
India should stop hunting mirages.
9 comments:
Eswar,
I think it is time, that you made your stand clear on this issue.
Just look at the previous blog, where you were arguing for a)re-org the UN -its structure &role b)how diluted can security council be.
Look at this blog, you are asking for India to shuck its hopes on getting security council seat.
Why would we want a seat on a non-respected a.k.a not-useful org ?
ofcourse, there are *many* benefits in doing so ;)
Hi Arvind,
The previous one and this one are totally different.
Previous one was a comment on what could happen to the UN if more countries jumped into the council. It also had a recommendation to the Sec General on what actually is plaguing the UN body.
This one is a comment on how India is handling its foreign policy vis-a-vis china. The UN issue is an illustration of how immature india is about this.
I am not suggesting anything for india to do regarding the council seat. All i am saying is india should not jump up and down over nothing. There is no cause for celebration.
Before eyestreet becomes byestreet.......
Shortly after this claim was made, Chinese made another claim that 'they will support India in its pursuit for Security Council(SC) seat'
Anyway, soon US will ask for some special position in the SC - which will always make them more equal than the rest!
We all know that this SC is total waste-of-time, since US and UK didnt heed to anyone's advise and ignored SC's reservation for invading Iraq.
sanchapanzo....I have not read any where that China is supporting India's candidature. When asked, all that china says is that it believes that India is an important country and its involvement in organizations like the UN could be increased. This means crap. No committment, nothing.
But if you have seen some statement from a chinese official stating categorically that they support indian for UNSC, pls send me the link.
Thanks.
Check this out
source business world and check the fifth paragraph in this link source - forbes
sanchapanzo...2 things.
One the business standard quotes the Vice President of the Institute for South Asian Studies under the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences and not a chinese govt official. So this cannot be taken as an official chinese govt position.
Two, the report in forbes is wrong. I do not see any link or quote from any chinse foreign ministry official substantiating the forbes claim.
I would instead direct you to read the relevant paragraphs(link given in the blog) of the "Joint Statement of the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China" when the Chinese Premier visited india in April. This is the most authentic, official chinese govt document and there can be nothing that could supersede this one. Unless ofcourse there is another official chinese govt(foreign office or higher) press release that states that the peoples republic supports India's claim to the UN security council seat.
Until then, officially we do not have their support.
Eswar,
Guess, you are right!
Newspaper(or magazines) reports are really spurious!
But why would they give out false news and try to mislead their readers?
Just checked this article the hindu, it has a vague mention of 'Chinese Foreign minister supporting India for UN'.
U.N. reform
The U.N. reform was discussed at great length, with the three countries registering their agreement "on the objective requirement for comprehensive reforms of the U.N., including of the UNSC."
But while Russia and China both support India's bid for permanent membership of the Security Council, the Indian and Russian Ministers failed to persuade China to lift its objections to Japan as a member of the quartet of Security Council candidates promoted by India, informed sources said.
Surprising even 'the hindu' is publishing an article based on "INFORMED SOURCES"!
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