'Obama's UNSC message wasn't a last minute thing'

Confirming rediff.com's scoop of October 15 on how United States officials wanted US President Barack Obama to endorse India's bid for permanent membership in the United States Security Council, advising him it could make his India visit truly historic, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Robert Blake said Monday, that even though the President's announcement of support for India's candidacy during his address to Parliament came as a surprise to many people, it wasn't a last minute thing.

Blake reviewing Obama's visit and its achievements at a briefing at the Foreign Press Center, said, "It wasn't a surprise and it wasn't a last moment thing. This is something that was very carefully thought out, but it obviously was one of the big new items of the entire visit."

"We wanted the President's speech before Parliament to have an impact, and so we didn't have it obviously leak beforehand," he said, and added: "So, that's why we waited until the end to put that into the Joint Statement."

But Blake, in acknowledging that joint statements are usually negotiated and ready for release and not worked on at the last minute or delayed as this particular joint statement was, however noted, "I don't want to suggest in any way that there was difficulties negotiating the joint statement on that (the endorsement of the President of India's candidacy)."

"On the contrary," he said, "we had very good relations with our friends in the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) and in the Prime Minister's Office to move ahead on all aspects of the visit."

Blake said, "One of the reasons the joint statement wasn't issued until later was just to make sure that it can reflect what the President said in Parliament."

On October 15, rediff.com, in an exclusive report, said, "Unrelated to India being elected a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council by a landslide, there has been a critical mass developing among senior administration officials that President Barack Obama announce America's support for India for a permanent UNSC seat, preferably during his address to a joint session of the Indian Parliament during his visit next month." 

At the briefing, Blake also asserted that the US support for India's candidacy was unconditional.

"No, there is not conditionality," the senior US official, who is the administration's point man for South Asia said, although acknowledging that "the President did make clear that with this news responsibility also comes the burden of responsibility (for India) to take on some of the more challenging aspects of managing international systems and that includes difficult issues such as Burma and Iran and so forth. You hear the President talk about Burma in his statement to Parliament and you saw the references in the joint statement to the importance of Iran."

Blake also denied that the endorsement is an empty promise, because there was a contention in UN circles that US was sluggish in its support for UN Security Council reform.

"The United States is committed to continued engagement on Security Council reform," he said, though acknowledging that "the President and others have made it clear that this is going to be a long and complicated process. (But) We are committed to a modest expansion or both the permanent and non-permanent seats."

"So, the only real change that we announced in India was our support for India's permanent seat as part of a reformed UN Security Council," he said.

"But we've always been clear that this is going to be a long-term and very complicated process."

Blake explained that "this is a very complex process that is going to have to take place. There are many, many contenders for permanent seats. There's the whole question of the veto. So, we need to have a very detailed and serious conversation with all of our friends who are competing for these seats."

"And, I would deny that we are being sluggish on anything to do with the UN because it's a very important priority for us. But again, there are many different equities that have to be weighed here. So, I would caution against expecting any kind of breakthrough anytime soon," he said.

Earlier, State Department spokesman Phillip J Crowley when asked if China and other permanent members of the UN Security Council had been informed that India's bid would be endorsed by Obama, said, "We did inform certain countries before the President made his announcement."

Asked if the US intends to only support Japan and India or if Washington is considering endorsing Brazil and Germany too, Crowley said, "As we've said, in envisioning a larger and more effective Security Council, there are a number of model countries that could make significant contributions within the Security Council. Japan is one, Germany is one. There may be a larger list than that."

When pressed if the US is willing to support other countries, or if two is the limit, the spokesman said, "I don't think at this point we have a particular number in mind."

Crowley retorted when informed of allegations that the US was being sluggish to UN Security Council reforms that "let me get this straight. There's various times when we are accused of dictating to the world. But in this particular case, there is a collaborative process. There are five permanent members of the Security Council."

"Eventually," he argued, consensus will have to be reached among the five. We get a vote, and we have indicated publicly a country of countries that we believe should be strong candidates for Security Council representation."

Crowley said, "Beyond that, we will work affirmatively and aggressively within the United Nations on this. But we recognize that this is process that is going to take some time."

"The United States cannot snap its finger and dictate Security Council reform," he said.

Crowley also denied that Washington's endorsement of India's bid was an empty process. "It is not," he asserted. "I mean, again, you have permanent Security Council representatives and we have committed a vote to India as part of this process."