Jade
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2010
- Messages
- 5,622
- Reaction score
- -1
- Country
- Location
BRUSSELS/NEW DELHI: Despite the considerable momentum backing its claims for a permanent UNSC seat, New Delhi will not bend backwards to seek support from China for the same when Chinese PM Wen Jiabao comes calling on Wednesday.
Aware that the Chinese are not likely to show any flexibility over India's membership, official sources played down the issue of support from China saying this was of little significance now, keeping in mind the intricate and long-term nature of the reforms required.
"The UN permanent membership is not going to be the outcome of this visit. Whether we become a permanent UNSC member depends on first what the General Assembly does... whether you get 128 votes in the General Assembly... next, whether you get support from the Security Council which includes the P5 plus 2 support," an official source said in Brussels during PM Manmohan Singh's visit to attend the EU-India summit.
"Last time around, when the Security Council's composition was amended in the 1960s, two of the P5 voted against it in the General Assembly. And yet when it came to the Security Council, they supported it. So rather than counting our chickens now and saying is he (Wen) going to offer support during the visit, or make him support during the visit, we will do whatever we can to make it happen the right way," he added.
China is the only P5 country not to have shown support for India's candidature even though it 'acknowledges' New Delhi's aspirations and says it is ready to hold consultations with India over the issue. It has been speculated that India might strongly take up its case with China in keeping with the impetus provided to its claims by the recent visits of President Barack Obama and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy.
Ahead of the visit though, Delhi is also seeking to separate the border dispute between the two countries from the gamut of India-China relations, saying this shouldn't be allowed to mar the otherwise "healthy" relationship. "It has happened in the past when Rajiv Gandhi was there. There is no reason why it can't happen now," said the government source in Brussels.
The two sides last month held the 14th round of border talks where they sought a "fair and reasonable" solution to the dispute which would be acceptable to both. While India and China had marked out the political parameters for resolving the dispute in 2005, they are currently working to evolve a framework, or what is called the second stage, under which the third stage or the actual delineation of borders would take place in disputed areas.
The source said Wen's visit was very important because of the opportunity it would provide to the two countries to look at where they are in terms of the relationship. "A healthy trade relationship with China is likely to emerge... as our largest trading partner in goods. The growing relationship is also reflected in the fact that 8 out of 9 members of polit buro standing committee of Communist Party of China have visited India," the official said.
Aware that the Chinese are not likely to show any flexibility over India's membership, official sources played down the issue of support from China saying this was of little significance now, keeping in mind the intricate and long-term nature of the reforms required.
"The UN permanent membership is not going to be the outcome of this visit. Whether we become a permanent UNSC member depends on first what the General Assembly does... whether you get 128 votes in the General Assembly... next, whether you get support from the Security Council which includes the P5 plus 2 support," an official source said in Brussels during PM Manmohan Singh's visit to attend the EU-India summit.
"Last time around, when the Security Council's composition was amended in the 1960s, two of the P5 voted against it in the General Assembly. And yet when it came to the Security Council, they supported it. So rather than counting our chickens now and saying is he (Wen) going to offer support during the visit, or make him support during the visit, we will do whatever we can to make it happen the right way," he added.
China is the only P5 country not to have shown support for India's candidature even though it 'acknowledges' New Delhi's aspirations and says it is ready to hold consultations with India over the issue. It has been speculated that India might strongly take up its case with China in keeping with the impetus provided to its claims by the recent visits of President Barack Obama and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy.
Ahead of the visit though, Delhi is also seeking to separate the border dispute between the two countries from the gamut of India-China relations, saying this shouldn't be allowed to mar the otherwise "healthy" relationship. "It has happened in the past when Rajiv Gandhi was there. There is no reason why it can't happen now," said the government source in Brussels.
The two sides last month held the 14th round of border talks where they sought a "fair and reasonable" solution to the dispute which would be acceptable to both. While India and China had marked out the political parameters for resolving the dispute in 2005, they are currently working to evolve a framework, or what is called the second stage, under which the third stage or the actual delineation of borders would take place in disputed areas.
The source said Wen's visit was very important because of the opportunity it would provide to the two countries to look at where they are in terms of the relationship. "A healthy trade relationship with China is likely to emerge... as our largest trading partner in goods. The growing relationship is also reflected in the fact that 8 out of 9 members of polit buro standing committee of Communist Party of China have visited India," the official said.
