There has been no change in his country’s position on the expansion of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) since 2009, said U.S. Ambassador Richard Verma, reiterating that the U.S. continues to support India’s candidature for a permanent seat.
Mr. Verma was responding to a question based on a report in The Hindu that the Indian government saw a letter from the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. that it supported a “moderate expansion” of the UNSC without a veto power to new members as a dilution of the U.S. support for India.
The U.S. would stand by President Barack Obama’s bilateral commitment that in the event of a vote on the issue, Washington would support New Delhi, he said.
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The Ambassador marked out cooperation for protecting the global commons such as the high seas, skies, space and the Internet as the emerging driver of India-U.S. strategic cooperation. Talking at the Observer Research Foundation on “Protecting Our Shared Spaces,” Mr. Verma said such cooperation could “lay the groundwork for the next big breakthrough in bilateral relations”.
“What we do together can be a force for greater peace, prosperity and security in the world. Shared spaces offer us a platform to realise this potential,” Mr. Verma said, adding that the thinking Chalein Saath Saath — “Forward, Together, We Go”— that has guided bilateral relations so far has matured to a level where both countries felt “stronger together”.
In a clear reference to contested Chinese claims in the Pacific, the U.S. Ambassador said both India and the U.S. were aligned to “counter the use of intimidation or force to assert unfounded territorial or maritime claims”. “Freedom of navigation and overflight are not privileges. They are rights,” he said, paraphrasing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
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Mr. Verma pitched for expanding bilateral defence cooperation, and proposed that the U.S. and India could build fighter aircraft together, “right here in India”, pointing out that the country faced critical shortage of frontline fighter aircraft, limiting its capabilities to keep the skies patrolled and safe.
Calling for more cooperation in space, particularly through ISRO-NASA ties, he said space-based climate research could be a key area of partnership.
“We have only scratched the surface of what we can accomplish in space. The opportunities that lie ahead extend as far as space itself,” he said.
Mr. Verma favoured information sharing between the countries to keep cyber threats at bay.