NEW DELHI: India’s official dream of getting a permanent seat in the UN Security Council was dealt a decisive blow with the US teaming up with China and Russia to oppose negotiations for changes in the body.

After a long and laborious process of discussions, countries have finally come out with a framework text which could be the basis of negotiations to reform the Security Council — not only to admit more countries as permanent members, but also to make its working more transparent. The text was the result of inter-governmental negotiations (IGN) and was introduced in the UN General Assembly by its president Sam Kutesa on August 1.

The text, which may continue to be debated, however, has a short effective life after three biggies —US, China and Russia — came out against it, making any negotiations little more than an academic exercise.

The US stand was a blow largely because its has been what New Delhi believed the most recent and important voice supporting India’s permanent UNSC membership. In a letter, the US said, “The IGN is the most appropriate forum for these discussions. It is critical that any reform proposal enjoy broad consensus among member states.” Sources said it’s just diplomatese for pushing the can down the road.

Indian officials say the IGN was really not going anywhere, but it has become the flavour of the season with all the nay-sayers like US, Russia and China. Washington is willing to consider specific countries for entry into the UNSC but only after they have proved their credentials in their “ability and willingness to contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security and to other purposes of the United Nations”. But it will not agree to “any alteration or expansion of the veto”.

While India will not stake its partnership with the US on its non-support, it does make things awkward. PM Narendra Modi has recently written a long letter to all 193-member countries of the UN pushing India’s case in the UNSC. Indian diplomats believe text-based negotiations are its best chance to get into the UNSC.

Russia, India’s oldest supporter for the UNSC seat, also supported the inter-governmental negotiations, rejecting the text-based one. “The intergovernmental negotiations on the UN Security Council reform should proceed in a calm, transparent and inclusive atmosphere free from artificial deadlines. If a consensus on this issue is not possible to achieve, then in any case it will be politically necessary to secure the support by the overwhelming majority of the member-states — a substantially greater number than the legally required two thirds of votes at the General Assembly,” it said. That, say diplomats, will be almost impossible to achieve.

China has remained a steadfast opponent to the process of UNSC reform, and has been the unofficial sponsor of the 13-nation group UfC. So China’s opposition to the negotiations is not a surprise. Beijing has used its considerable clout in Africa, Asia and Latin America to build opinion against the text process.

In its response, Beijing said it would refuse to “populate” the document. Outlining its position, China said, “Member-states are still seriously divided on the Security Council reform. No general agreement has been reached on any solution so far. Member-states still need to engage in patient consultations to find a solution that accommodates each other’s interests and concerns. Any solution or reform model should enjoy general agreement among member-states.

The five clusters of key issues concerning Security Council reform are interrelated, and should not be addressed in isolation of each other. It is imperative to stick to the approach of a package solution.” Indicating that it might be difficult to ever get China’s support, it put out what appears to be an impossible position — “No solution on which member-states are seriously divided or approach that may cause division among member-states will have China’s support.”

