Thursday, December 2, 2010

India: A Potential Member for U.N. Council

President Obama recently took a three-day visit to India in order to endorse India's seat to the United Nations Security Council. With United States vacillating, troubled economy, Obama claims this partnership with India will be beneficial to the United States because India is one of the largest democracies in the world that is growing at an astounding exponential growth rate. According to Obama, "Anything that would stimulate the underlying growth and policies of entrepreneurship in the United States would help the cause of global prosperity [1].” Nonetheless, this is not all that simple for United States present relations with different countries and India's historical ideology behind allies. As history unveils, India has relied on strategic autonomy [2]. India has been wary and quite neglectful towards forming allies because India feels other countries' politics and international relations will impede its strong and growing democracy. The United States relations to other nations such as China and Pakistan exacerbates India's acceptance to the U.N. council. According to U.S. authorities, China would feel threaten with India’s fast paced economic society, even though China’s economy is growing at an ever-lightning rate. Another reason India and China’s relationship is troubling is because India has a contentious relationship with China and has alarmed the U.S. about China’s rising power. Further causing India to be wary about the U.N. Security is Pakistan is seen as a perilous force for India. This is due to the fact that India has traced back attacks at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, India allegedly to the Pakistani government. They believe they were in some covert operation linked to terrorists organization allegedly Al-Qaeda.

According to my opinion I feel this is a real great opportunity for India because it can now secure its homeland territory with its previous terrorist attack on the Taj Hotel at its financial capital, Mumbai. In addition, it can now also invest in new relationships for trade with other countries that are also part of the U.N. Council. India should turn to a new page and examine this offer to the U.N. Council as a mean to ease and solve conflicts with Pakistan through the United States. I also think this is a great chance for China to mitigate its deflation problems and perceive India as a potential new import source for it also has a rapidly expanding economy. Nonetheless, I don’t think India should be too intimately close with the U.N. Council since WikiLeaks has posted classified information about many countries’ international affairs. After this, United States relationship with countries such as Iran and North Korea has been even more complex and I definitely do not think India should be tied to these conflicts. Hence, India should seek the U.N. Council for security benefits and international trade for its expansive economy. If India were to take this route, it shouldn’t get too close with the U.N. Council.

[1]-New York Times. Countering China, Obama Backs India for U.N. Council.

[2]-India: History, Geography, and Government. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107629.html.