Backing for India’s UNSC seat ’speaks volumes of how US thinks about India’: Experts

NEW DELHI - United States President Barack Obama’s backing for India’s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council has been termed as ’significant’ for the relation between the two countries.

Ashley Tellis, who was a Bush administration advisor on South Asia, said that the announcement signals that the Obama administration is putting a higher priority on India than longtime allies Germany and Japan, which also seek permanent seats.

“That the U.S. has supported India over treaty allies like Germany is very significant - it speaks volumes for how Obama thinks about India. The most unhappy states will be Pakistan and China,” the Los Angeles Times quoted Tellis, as saying.

Ben Rhodes, a top foreign policy adviser to Obama, said that the endorsement was intended to send a strong message “in terms of how we see India on the world stage.”

Meanwhile, Richard Fontaine, a former adviser to Senator John McCain, who had blamed Obama for letting the relationship with India drift, reacted with praise and surprise.

“It’s a recognition of India’s emergence as a global power and the United States’ desire to be close to India,” Fontaine said.

Earlier, on Monday, Obama had backed India for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council while addressing a joint session of Parliament in New Delhi.

“The just and sustainable international order that America seeks includes a United Nations that is effective, efficient, credible and legitimate. That is why I can say today: In the years ahead I look forward to a reformed U.N. Security Council that includes India as a permanent member,” Obama had said.

Obama was on a three-day visit to India, which is part of his four-nation Asia tour that will also take him to Indonesia, South Korea and Japan. (ANI)