India’s UNSC endorsement: Germany, Brazil and the Coffee Club react
By Rajiv Singh | 10 Nov 2010
US president Barack Obama's endorsement of India's candidacy for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council would have been enthusiastically received in Delhi - and applauded as a correct political move in Washington, where it has bipartisan support – but, inevitably, it has caused ripples in diplomatic circles around the world.
A predictable response was from Islamabad, India's regional rival, where the establishment warned the United States against engaging in ''power politics.''
The endorsement received a guarded response from Germany and Brazil, two other members of G-4, a body of four nations including India and Japan, which are campaigning to be co-opted as permanent members of the Security Council, along with the Big Five.
So far the august body has five permanent members - the United Kingdom, Russia, France, China and the United States of America, who technically wield the power of a 'veto'- a symbol of much value. The Security Council has ten non-permanent members who are elected every two years on a rotational basis.
Foreign ministers of Germany and Brazil welcomed the move saying it reflected wider support for reform of the UNSC, which included their own aspirations of joining the Security Council as permanent members.
Speaking in Berlin, German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle welcomed president Barack Obama's endorsement of a permanent UN Security Council seat for India. Asked whether Obama's endorsement was a blow for Germany - which is yet to receive any such endorsement from the US - Westerwelle said, 'On the contrary, it would have surprised me if the US president had not used his visit to make such an overture to India.'
