New Delhi
20 June 2006
New Delhi may have taken care to reaffirm its commitment to the
reform and expansion of the United Nations (UN) Security Council but the deeply divided
G-4 does not seem particularly amused by the nomination of Shashi Tharoor for the post
of UN Secretary General.
According to observers of New Delhi's bid for a place around the famed horseshoe table
of the Security Council, opinion within the group is divided. Brazil is hoping the process
of UN reform can be carried forward, Germany is scrupulously studying the development
and Japan will offer no comment, just yet.
Brazil, the sources say, is "hoping" that it can continue consultations with India given
their "shared history of joint cooperation on many issues in New York and Vienna".
Brazil also does not forget to remind New Delhi that there are "a number of talented"
candidates to pick from.
Incidentally, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to attend the IBSA (India-
Brazil-South Africa) Summit later this year in Brazil. Dr Singh has indicated he may give
the UN General Assembly a miss and instead go to the September 11-16 Non Aligned
Movement (NAM) Summit in Cuba.
The Germans, in turn, observe that "the race has just begun" and it is too early to take
sides. Germany would want a "strong Secretary General backed by a majority" of the
member-states of UN and hopes India stands by the "long-running interest" of the G-4 in
the expansion of Security Council.
Japan, which virtually rendered the G-4 into a Group of Three after it decided to strike out
on its own and collaborate with the United States to formulate a proposal that
Washington will not oppose, is "astonished" by Tharoor's nomination and is not inclined
to consider him seriously.
Describing Japan's take on recent turn of events, the sources assert that nominating
Shashi Tharoor for the post of UN Secretary General does not square with New Delhi's
bid for a permanent UNSC seat. It will only raise doubts about India's seriousness as a
member of the G-4, they hasten to add.
For its part, New Delhi maintains that nominating Dr Tharoor and bidding for a permanent
seat in the UN Security Council were "separate issues". The spokesman of the Ministry
of External Affairs says, "It is incorrect to perceive India's support for one as dilution of
our commitment to the other."
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