A SENIOR US official said yesterday he saw a gradual evolution in India’s positions at the UN Security Council, despite its abstention on last month’s resolution that paved the way for strikes in Libya.
US President Barack Obama last year vowed to support a permanent seat for India on the UN Security Council, a longtime foreign policy goal for the emerging South Asian power.
But some US lawmakers, while in general supporting warmer ties with India, have warned that its interests differ from Washington’s.
Responding to the concerns, Robert Blake, the US assistant secretary of state for South Asia, said he noticed a shift in India and pointed to its support for the work of nuclear inspectors in Iran.
“One of the most important trends in India over the last 10 years is that they want to be a responsible global power, they want to help to manage the international system,” Blake told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“I think we’ve already seen some evolution in their voting patterns, and I expect that to continue,” Blake said.
Representative Steve Chabot, a Republican from Ohio, said India took the same position as the US on only 11 per cent of “important” UN votes in 2009.
“I consider India to be an important ally to the United States, an important trading partner and even more so in years to come, hopefully,” Chabot said at the hearing.
But “in the UN they have a history of not being particularly in sync with where the United States is,” he said.
India, which has a non-permanent seat on the Security Council, abstained from the March 17 vote that set up a no-fly zone over Libya. India later called for an end to air strikes.
Russia and China also abstained from the resolution, which was supported by Britain, France and the US in response to concerns that Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi would launch a bloody clampdown on rebels.
