Joe Biden’s support for India over UNSC aimed at containing China

India’s growing profile on the international stage also explains China’s reluctance to expand the UNSC.

The United States’ support for India’s bid to be a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is likely to increase pressure on China — the last holdout. It is also America’s way of saying that it supports greater participation of countries from the Global South, to reflect the changed reality in the world.

Of the other four members of the UNSC, i.e., Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and China, only the Chinese leadership is yet to support India’s push for a permanent seat at the coveted council when it is expanded.

With five permanent (P5) and 10 non-permanent members, the 15-member UNSC is the highest world body on security-related issues. There has been growing demand for its reform, and the inclusion of more members in the council, to reflect the changing world.

US President Joe Biden expressed his government’s support for India’s permanent membership of the UNSC on Friday at a private dinner hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the occasion of Biden’s first visit to India as US President.

Though he is here to participate in the two-day G20 leaders’ summit that began in New Delhi on Saturday, September 9, the two sides took the opportunity to hold a bilateral meeting between the two leaders on the summit eve.

The joint statement issued at the end of their talks said Indo-US ties ``will stretch from seas to stars,” and added that Modi and Biden made progress in a range of areas that they had flagged in June, from space and cancer research, to critical tech and small nuclear reactors.

US support not new

America’s support for India as a permanent member of the UN Security Council is not new. Barack Obama was the first US President to put it on record during his visit in 2010. Obama had expressed support for India’s permanent chair in a “reformed” UNSC in the “years ahead”, indicating that even he was not sure when that reform will take place.

Technically, George W. Bush was the first to extend US support for India on this, but when he made the remark, he was no longer the American President. Addressing a leadership summit organised by the Hindustan Times newspaper in New Delhi in October 2009,  Bush said, “We must see the possibility of a seat for India in the United Nations Security Council.”

Subsequently, President Donald Trump echoed the same during Modi’s visit to the US in 2017. A statement issued after the Modi-Trump meeting at the White House said, “President Trump reaffirmed the support of the United States for India’s permanent membership on a reformed UN Security Council.”

Biden’s reiteration of the same comes at a time when Sino-Indian relations are strained due to border issues and China’s growing assertiveness in the region.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s decision to stay away from the summit came in the wake of Beijing releasing a controversial map that showed Indian territories as part of China, leading to a howl of protests in India.

It is not clear whether bilateral issues or domestic compulsions kept him away from the summit. But his conspicuous absence led many to speculate that this would further strain ties between the two neighbours.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also stayed away from the summit because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

China’s refusal to commit itself to an expanded UNSC stems from its stand on Japan. Beijing has often argued that it does not support a reformed  UNSC as along with India and other countries, Japan could also be a part of it. China says Japan has not yet “atoned” for the crimes it committed in China and other countries in Asia during World War II.

But India’s growing profile on the international stage also explains China’s reluctance to expand the UNSC.

Significantly, the joint statement issued after the Modi-Biden meeting on September 8 did not mention Russia or the Ukraine war, though it did highlight the need for a “free, open, inclusive, and resilient Indo-Pacific” — an oblique reference to China’s aggressive behaviour in the region.

The Modi-Biden meeting gave the two sides the opportunity to assess the progress made since Modi’s visit to the US in June. The US once again emphasised on higher education, space, and sophisticated technology, where it could tap into both India’s expanding knowledge pool and market potential.

Enhanced defence and security cooperation was also one of the key areas of discussion, including the transfer of emerging tech, and production of fighter jet engines in India to bolster the ‘Make in India’ programme.

The Americans made it clear that they were keen on sending out a positive signal during President Biden’s first visit to India, and wanted to steer clear of contentious issues such as democratic backsliding or India’s human rights record under the Modi government.

A lot of focus will now be on how the US uses its influence on the G7 countries to ensure that G20 members are able to overcome their differences and come out with an agreed final document at the end of the summit.