NEW DELHI (Agencies) – US President Barack Obama endorsed on Monday India’s long-held demand for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, a largely symbolic move that may put diplomatic pressure on rival regional power China.
“The just and sustainable international order that America seeks includes a United Nations that is efficient, effective, credible and legitimate,” Obama said in a speech to the Indian parliament.
“That is why I can say today – in the years ahead, I look forward to a reformed UN Security Council that includes India as a permanent member,” he announced at the end of the first leg of a 10-day Asian tour that has also been seen about gathering support from countries like India to exert pressure on China on its currency. Obama cautioned however that with increased power came greater responsibility and called on future Security Council members to ensure the body was effective, that resolutions were implemented and sanctions enforced.
Given the tortuous negotiations likely to make the body – set up after World War II – reflect 21st century realities, many analysts believe it could be years before the new Council is formed.
Ben Rhodes, a deputy US national security advisor, said that the intention of the United States was clear, and based on IndiaÂ’s emerging role as a great strategic, economic and democratic power.
“A clear statement like this from the United States is a very powerful signal,” he said, adding that Washington had expressed support for Japan’s aspirations in the past, but had not done so for India.
It could still be a pipe dream and likely face resistance from some countries reluctant to water down the power of the five permanent members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
But it is probably ObamaÂ’s most headline-grabbing announcement on his first official visit to the worldÂ’s largest democracy that has seen the US leader seeks greater trade with IndiaÂ’s massive markets as well as to help counterbalance the rise of China.
Sending a strong message to Pakistan, Obama also said that terrorist “safe havens” within its borders are “unacceptable” and asked it to bring terrorists behind the Mumbai attacks to justice.
“…We will continue to insist on PakistanÂ’s leaders that terrorist safe havens within their borders are unacceptable, and that the terrorists behind the Mumbai attacks be brought to justice,” the President said in his 35-minute address to members of parliament.
Obama said India and the US were working together, more closely than ever, to counter terrorism.
Noting that the USÂ’ strategy to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda and its affiliates has to succeed on both sides of the border, Obama said that is why the US has worked with the Pakistani government to address the threat of terrorist networks in the border region.
“The Pakistani government increasingly recognises that these networks are not just a threat outside of Pakistan – they are a threat to the Pakistani people, who have suffered greatly at the hands of violent extremists,” he said.
Paying rich tributes to the victims of the “barbaric” Mumbai attacks in 2008, Obama said he honours the memory of all those died in the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament and the Mumbai carnage.
Obama said: “We must also recognise that all of us have an interest in both an Afghanistan and a Pakistan that is stable, prosperous and democratic – and none more so than India.”
Earlier during his joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Singh, Obama said the United States could not “impose” a solution on India and Pakistan over Kashmir.
While offering to play “any role” that the nuclear-armed neighbours feel could help reduce tensions, Obama made it clear that there was no question of forced US interference in Kashmir or any other bilateral dispute.
“The US cannot impose solutions to these problems,” he told the joint press conference.
“My hope is that conversations may be taking place between the two countries but they may not start on that particular (Kashmir) flashpoint,” Obama said.
All too aware of IndiaÂ’s sensitivity to any proposal that smacks of third-party mediation over Kashmir, Obama has addressed the subject with great caution during his visit, only broaching it in public when directly questioned.
However, Singh poured cold water on any immediate improvement in relations with Pakistan, in the doldrums since Mumbai attacks in 2008.
Commenting on Obama’s efforts to encourage an India-Pakistan dialogue, Singh said India remained committed to engagement with Pakistan, but said Pakistan must first distance itself properly from “terror-induced coercion”.
“We are committed to resolving all outstanding issues between our two countries, including the ‘K’ word,” Singh said in reference to Kashmir.
“But you cannot simultaneously be talking when at the same time the terror machine is as active as ever before.
“Once Pakistan moves away from terror-induced coercion, we will be very happy to engage productively,” he said.
President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday night said India had spurned concerted Pakistani “peace overtures” since the Mumbai attacks.
“It would have been most helpful if our initiatives had been welcomed and responded to in a positive manner,” he said.
In his three day trip – the longest stay in any foreign country by President Obama – the US leader announced $10 billion in business deals, aiming at reassuring voters that countries like India offer benefits for US jobs rather than causing unemployment through outsourcing.
Obama has also announced the United States would relax export controls over sensitive technology, another demand of IndiaÂ’s.
The US president said he would support IndiaÂ’s membership of four global non-proliferation organisations, a move that will reassure New Delhi – left out of these groups after its 1998 nuclear tests – that Washington is recognising its global clout.
It is unclear how much new Washington will get from India.
Sectors like retail and the financial services are still heavily restricted to foreign investors and there are few signs that SinghÂ’s ruling Congress party has plans for any major reforms soon.
The US Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, Francisco Sanchez, said in New Delhi that the United States wanted greater market access to IndiaÂ’s infrastructure and energy sectors. India has targeted to spend $1 trillion over five years on upgrading its poor infrastructure, from potholed roads to log-jammed ports.
Obama hailed deeper and closer alliance with his host India, which he said had established itself as a world power and a natural US ally on the global stage.
Obama heaped praise on Singh at the end of a three-day trip, which saw a raft of commercial deals signed and agreements to cooperate more closely in agriculture, health and energy.
The president said that the principles of democracy and human rights were too often ignored around the world, but India and the US would combine to promote them in “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century.”
“For our two countries to be able stand together to promote these principles in international forums, I think can be incredibly powerful and incredibly important,” he said.
Washington and DelhiÂ’s relationship will be one of the centuryÂ’s defining partnerships, Obama and Singh said.
Singh, who enjoys a close and friendly relationship with Obama, said the allies would now work as “equal partners”.
“We have decided to accelerate the deepening of ties to work as equal partners in a strategic relationship,” Singh told the press conference.
Both sides would expand co-operation on space, civil, nuclear and defence matters, he added.
ObamaÂ’s remarks will be closely watched elsewhere in Asia, particularly in China, which will be weighing the geopolitical implications of the embrace ahead of talks between Obama and President Hu Jintao in Seoul this week.