NEW DELHI, October 24: Having failed to prevent India from getting a crucial waiver for global nuclear commerce at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in Vienna last month,

China is now trying to block its giant neighbour from getting into the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as a Permanent Member.

China has now openly joined hands with Pakistan and a dozen other countries to prevent India from securing a Permanent Seat on the UNSC. Until now, China used to indulge in backstage diplomacy to sabotage Indian efforts to become a Permanent UNSC Member.

But in recent weeks, it is openly associating itself with such efforts.

On 26 September 2008, China attended a closed door meeting of the so-called Coffee Club countries to oppose efforts by UN General Assembly’s recently-elected President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua to forge a consensus amongst UN member-states on UNSC expansion. Its members include Pakistan, Italy, Argentina, Egypt, Turkey and Costa Rica.

According to information now available here, a representative of the Chinese Permanent Mission in New York attended the meeting, which was called by Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. Apparently, he assured Beijing’s support, and proclaimed that his country is an "honest partner" of the Coffee Club, or Uniting For Consensus (UFC) group of countries. He even said China will work through the diplomatic channels to coordinate with the US and Russia for this purpose.

Of the five nations that are Permanent Members of the UNSC at present, Russia, France and Britain have openly declared their support for India’s candidature for a permanent seat on the UNSC as part of the over due UN reforms. The other two - USA and China - are ambivalent. The US says it sympathises with the aspirations of the world’s largest democracy, but has so far refrained from openly lending it support. China, which clearly sees its nuclear-armed neighbour as a rival for influence and power in Asia and the world, merely says it understands and supports India’s desire to play a greater role in the UN.

Incidentally, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was in New York to attend the UN General Assembly when the UFC meeting took place. Indian policy-makers are surprised and disappointed by China’s attempts to sabotage its efforts to get into the UNSC as a Permanent Member.

Because it was only in January this year that, during Dr Singh’s bilateral visit to Beijing, the joint Sino-Indian vision statement had proclaimed: "The Chinese side understands and supports India’s aspirations to play a greater role in the United Nations, including the Security Council." Indian diplomats interpreted this with much delight to mean China’s support to India’s aspirations.

Beijing’s action in New York came barely three weeks after China sought to block the waiver for India at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) meeting in Vienna on 5-6 September 2008. Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao even avoided taking Prime Minister Dr Singh’s frantic phone calls. It was only after US President George W Bush telephoned President Hu Jintao and insisted that China must not block the waiver that Beijing fell in line. The NSG waiver allows India to import uranium and nuclear technology to power its nuclear plants.

China appears to believe that the G4 countries (India, Brazil, Germany and Japan)- aspirants for permanent seats on the UNSC - do not have the requisite support they claim to enjoy amongst the UN’s 192 member-states. So, it suggested to UFC to reach out to the UNGA president to persuade him to give up his efforts and to drop the 29 February 2009 deadline for inter-governmental negotiations to start.

But G4 countries are confident that their diplomatic efforts are going to yield positive results.

Some UFC members had sought a luncheon meeting with UNGA President Brockmann. But he chose to keep away, and sent one of his officials instead. The official gave a patient hearing to complaints from Pakistan and Turkey. However, Brockmann is proceeding with his plans.

Incidentally, China also tried to sabotage the G4’s efforts to canvass support for their cause in 2007 by lending behind-the-scenes backing to Pakistan in its bid to block a consensus in the African Union over the G4 proposal for UNSC expansion.

Just as China’s plan to block the NSG waiver to India flopped in Vienna in September 2007, India is now hoping Beijing will fail in New York too and will not be able to prevent UNSC expansion, including permanent seats to the G4 countries, in the deliberations beginning in March 2009.