On the eve of PM's visit, US tries to placate India
The State Dept has tried to dispel the notion that Bush Admn is against a permanent seat for India in the UNSC.
The State Department has tried to dispel the notion that the Bush administration is against a permanent seat for India in the UN Security Council, a day after US representative Shirin Tahir-Kheli rejected the G4 demand to increase permanent seats.
News about India is creeping up in visibility here as the atmosphere heats up on the eve of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit -- the White House, State Department and the US Congress ramp up their pronouncements and journalists ramp up their questions.
Though the White House receives a head of state or of government almost daily, the Indian Prime Minister's visit has caught the imagination of some of the media.
"What we have said and what she (Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice) has said is that we have a longstanding commitment to support Japan for the Security Council seat," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack responding to a question about Washington rejecting India's demand.
"And you've heard from Under Secretary Burns in his briefing here several weeks ago when he said that, you know, we support Security Council expansion to two or so seats, by two or so seats. One of those seats we have made a commitment to Japan, and we support Japanese ascending to the Security Council," McCormack said leaving the second seat open to question.
"We have also said that, as Ambassador Tahir-Kheli said on Friday, that it's -- this is not the right moment to vote on Security Council reform because we think it is not right to have Security Council reform sprint out ahead of consideration of other very important reforms, including management reform, Secretariat reform, a Human Rights Commission, establishment of a Democracy Fund agreement on a Convention Against Terrorism," McCormack clarified.
"These are all things that have a great deal of support within the UN and we think it is important to make progress on those before you start voting on expansion of the Security Council."
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, McCormack contended, is coming here to meet with the President primarily. The President looks forward to hosting the Prime Minister."
Secretary Rice will be hosting a luncheon at the State, he added, but noted she had met the Prime Minister and the Indian Defence Minister not so long ago during her trip to India and in the run-up to Singh's arrival on July 17.
"We believe it is an important visit that signals the increasing depth and breadth of the US-India relationship across a variety of different topics and those have been outlined in the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP).
"It covers a wide variety of different areas, from energy to cultural exchanges to the beginnings of a military-to-military relationship. So I expect that they will be talking about all of those issues as well as things that happen to be on the mind of the Prime Minister as well. And she looks forward to those discussions."