New Delhi, India (CU)_ Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US President Joe Biden’s appointee for the Ambassador to the United Nations, did not clearly commit the endorsement of the new administration for India to become a permanent member of the Security Council. But the three former administrations of George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump had openly announced that India’s bid to be a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council was endorsed by the United States. However, during the confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Thomas-Greenfield, who served more than 35 years in foreign service before being named to the post, told lawmakers that the topic is still under discussion.
Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley asked Thomas-Greenfield during her confirmation hearing for the position of the US Ambassador to the UN, “Do you think India, Germany, Japan, should be (permanent) members (of the UN Security Council)?”. Thomas-Greenfield replied, “I think there has been some discussions about them being members of the Security Council and there are some strong arguments for that”. In an obvious reference to the Coffee Club or United for Consensus, she said, “But I also know that there are others who disagree within their regions that they should be the representative of their region. That, too, is an ongoing discussion”.
The Coffee Club, which includes countries such as Italy, Pakistan, Mexico and Egypt, has opposed India, Japan, Germany and Brazil’s permanent membership offer. President Biden reiterated his commitment to support India as a permanent member of the UN Security Council in his campaign policy paper last year. According to President Biden’s Campaign’ policy document on Indian-Americans in last August, “Recognising India’s growing role on the world stage, the Obama-Biden Administration formally declared US support for India’s membership in a reformed and expanded United Nations Security Council”.
In response to another query, Thomas-Greenfield favored changes within the UN Security Council. India is currently a non-permanent member for a two-year term which began this year in January. She said, “I think there is general agreement across the board that reforms are needed in the Security Council. What those reforms will be and how they will be implemented, I think remains to be decided but you know changing the number of members that happened we move from 11 to 15 some years ago and there are efforts to push for more permanent members, and those discussions are ongoing”.
