NEW DELHI — President Barack Obama ended his three-day trip to India on Monday with a call for raising the world’s biggest democracy to global-power status by granting it a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
His remarks before the Indian parliament brought instant criticism from Pakistan, India’s bitter rival to the west. They also could rankle China — its giant neighbor to the north and one of the five permanent members — which could block the move with its veto. The other members are Britain, France, Russia and the United States.
Indian leaders welcomed the first U.S. endorsement yet of their long-standing goal. While India’s U.N. aspirations still face an uphill battle, Obama’s direct endorsement offered powerful backing for the fight ahead. It also signals Obama’s intentions to bet more on the U.S.-India relationship.
Addressing India’s parliament Monday evening, Obama vowed “in the years ahead” to back “a reformed U.N. Security Council that includes India as a permanent member.”
The move brought instant criticism from Pakistan, a U.S. partner whose cooperation is critical to ending the war in Afghanistan. Abdul Basit, spokesman for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, urged the United States to take “a moral view and not base itself on any temporary expediency or exigencies of power politics.”
The Chinese state newswire Xinhua noted Obama’s endorsement with a news brief, but Chinese officials had made no public comment as of late Monday Beijing time. McClatchy Newspapers
