The US has reiterated its “longstanding support” for India, Japan, and Germany to join as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, alongside announcing new proposals for reforming the influential UN body.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced on Thursday that Washington supports creating two permanent seats for Africa on the Council in addition to non-permanent membership for African countries.
During a talk on ‘The Future of Multilateralism and UN Reform’ at the Council on Foreign Relations, she also announced that the US supports the creation of a new elected seat on the Security Council for Small Island Developing States and advocates for text-based negotiations.
On being asked what does that mean for US’ support for permanent seats for India, Germany and Japan, she said, “On the G4, we have expressed our support for Japan and Germany and India. We have not explicitly expressed support for Brazil.” The G4 nations – Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan – back each other’s bids for permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council. “India has the largest population in the world, and we really, really strongly support their being on the Council,” she further said.
Thomas-Greenfield added that there are no grounds for denying India a seat , however, there will be people “who will be opposed to various countries for various reasons”.
Earlier, a senior administration official, speaking to reporters about the US announcements, emphasised that Washington was “not backing away at all” from its support for India, Japan, and Germany in their bid for permanent seats.
(With PTI inputs)
