US refuses to allow Veto power to India – India should refuse to participate in United Nations Security Council as a second-class member
Preetam Sohani
May 15, 2005

India received first hint from United States that it will not support India’s bid for Veto power in the UN Security Council. Should India accept second-class membership in the UN Security council? It will be foolish to do that. There is no need to make a billion Indians second-class citizens in the world after being looted by the Europeans for two hundred fifty years and by the Central Asian/Persians (Mughals) before that.

It is time for India to tell the world that we are independent and if any one deserve to be first class citizen of the world, it is us!

The US has warned India and three other nations campaigning for permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council that it will not support their cause unless they agree not to ask for veto power, senior US officials were on Sunday quoted as saying.

‘‘The one clear statement to come from Washington is the warning about veto power’’ sought by India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, said New York Times quoting senior diplomats and administration officials.

‘‘The administration officials said they were opposed to giving new members veto power out of concern that it might paralyse the Security Council,’’ the daily said. The United States’ view of the ‘group of four’s effort remains uncertain, leading some diplomats to worry that Washington may actually oppose expanding the Security Council because it would dilute American power, the daily said.

Fueling that view, Shirin Tahir-Kheli, a special adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on United Nations reform, told the General Assembly last month that the United States ‘‘would like to move forward on the basis of broad consensus,’’ Times said.

On the broader question of United States support, Rice has sent conflicting signals, the daily noted. During a visit to Tokyo in March she said, ‘‘The United States unambiguously supports a permanent seat for Japan on the United Nations Security Council.’’

But when asked about seats for India and Brazil, she offered statements nearly identical in their evasiveness. ‘‘We will look at the issue of Security Council reform, but it should not get separated out from broad UN reform because we want this institution to be as strong as possible,’’ she said in Brasilia last month.

The Bush administration’s ability to block the four nations is indirect. The four need support of 128 nations, two-thirds of the United Nations’ 191 members, to amend the United Nations Charter. The issue is scheduled for a vote during the September meeting of the General Assembly.

If 128 Assembly members vote to allow them to join the Security Council, Council members must accept that decision. But then they must submit the revised Charter to their governments for ratification. The US could simply withhold the treaty from the senate, meaning it would not take effect.

Opposing any such moves, Ryozo Kato, Japan’s Ambassador to US, said: ‘‘The Security Council is not like an aircraft, with first class, business and economy seats.’’ The G-4 is nonetheless plunging ahead with an ambitious worldwide lobbying campaign. So far, by some estimates, the Group has recruited the support of as many as 100 nations - though ambassadors and others say the number is soft.

As part of the campaign, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers and other senior officials are travelling the world, visiting nations and regions far outside their normal orbits - sometimes seeming to make bargains, Times said.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran plans to visit Washington next week, in part to lobby for support, ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit in July, it noted. Japan has summoned more than 100 ambassadors and chiefs of mission from its embassies around the world to a rally of sorts next week in Tokyo, where Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura will press them to lobby their host governments for support, Times said.

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