US embassy cable - 04NEWDELHI8263

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 008263 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/29/2014 
TAGS: PREL, KNNP, KDEM, IN, UNSC, UNGA 
SUBJECT: SARAN: UN MUST REFLECT CONCERNS OF DEVELOPING 
COUNTRIES TO REMAIN RELEVANT 
 
REF: NEW DELHI 7675 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Geoff Pyatt,  Reasons 1.4 (B,D). 
 
1.  (U) In what was billed by the MEA as an important policy 
speech, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran set forth India's 
"preliminary" views of the High Level Panel Report on UN 
Reform in a December 30 address.  Prior to Saran's speech, 
MEA Joint Secretary (UN Political) BS Prakash advised us to 
pay close attention to the remarks as they would offer the 
"authoritative" GOI view on the Panel Report.  During his 
speech to prominent members of the New Delhi foreign policy 
community, including former Foreign Secretary Muchkund Dubey, 
MEA Additional Secretary Meera Shankar, and High-Level Panel 
member General Satish Nambiar, Saran emphasized: 
 
-- The UN must realign its priorities with those of the 
developing world if it is to retain its relevance.  It should 
safeguard the interests of developing countries instead of 
taking punitive actions against them. 
 
-- The international order is not democratic enough because 
it does not adequately reflect the views of developing 
countries, which constitute most of the world's population. 
 
-- Multilateralism is the mechanism through which democracies 
can function.  Citing the recent tsunami as an example, he 
said that today's collective challenges require a collective 
response. 
 
-- The UN needs its own budget so that it can act 
independently.  Most UN activities are funded by donors, 
rather than from the UN budget, giving donor countries a 
disproportionate influence over UN priorities. 
 
-- The Panel Report did not focus enough on disarmament.  The 
Chemical Weapons Convention could be used as a model to 
eliminate nuclear weapons. 
 
-- The UN is not the only vehicle to deal with issues of 
international security.  The international community can also 
use bilateral and regional mechanisms (where appropriate) to 
resolve problems. 
 
-- The international community should deal with crises in a 
democratic way, "without intervention." 
 
-- Criticizing "political expediency," Saran said the current 
international system is too focused on punishing the 
recipients of nuclear proliferation and not focused enough on 
the sources of proliferation. 
 
2.  (U) Saran downplayed the issue of Security Council 
expansion, never once even mentioning the word "veto."  He 
reiterated previous GOI comments that India views Security 
Council expansion as only one part of broader UN reform. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
3.  (C) Saran's reticence on the mechanics of Security 
Council expansion, along with conflicting signals from other 
GOI officials on the subject (reftel), suggest a continued 
lack of consensus in New Delhi on whether India would be 
prepared to accept a Security Council seat without a veto. 
The internal GOI line is highly pragmatic, but Indian public 
opinion is unprepared to accept what many would see as 
second-class status.  Saran's emphasis on the need to deal 
with the sources of nuclear proliferation, echoes comments in 
our recent non-proliferation dialogue and reflects the GOI 
view that the international community has not satisfactorily 
dealt with A Q Khan or Islamabad's alleged support for the 
network. 
MULFORD