US considers India's UNSC candidature

Washington: Linking India's candidature to the United Nations Security Council to reforms in the world body, the United States has said it will consider the issue very carefully.

"India's candidature to the United Nations Security Council is something that the United States has to consider very carefully but the membership issue is less of a question pertaining to India than how Washington would want to go about in its discussions with other nations on the eventual composition of the Council," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Richard Boucher said.

"The issue about India takes place within a broader context of UN reform, where we want to see many aspects of the United Nations reformed and the US priority is to see many of those things done first," he added.

"We are going to take up the issue of Security Council reform at some point. There's not really any kind of consensus now. I think our judgment and the best way to approach this is not to have the United States take out a position for particular countries in advance, but rather to maintain a certain flexibility as we go in," he said.

The only country, according to Boucher that US has said should be a member was Japan because of their very high level of contributions and the kind of responsibility they have taken in UN matters.

The senior US official said that US has recognized that the new Security Council needs to reflect the realities of the present day.

"We have recognized that there are countries, like India, with whom we share significant values, significant approaches to foreign relations, and where we have a rapidly expanding and important relationship. And those countries, particularly India, do play a very important role in the world," he said.

Boucher was replying to a question by sub-commitee chairman James Leach who said, that New Delhi's candidature was a natural issue, something in the interest of India, something that would be very compatible with the interests of the United States.

"Our position, as I understand it, still is that we're unprepared to take a position at this time. I am stumped by our lack of preparation, frankly, and find it awkward and philosophically, logically, geostrategically incompatible with good judgment," Leach had said.