India is anxious to regain a seat in the United Nations Security Council among the ten non-permanent members. But it is up against a host of obstacles. The list of candidates has been announced till 2018. India has to contend with one or another for the two seats allotted to the Asia-Pacific Group. Its last term ended on December 31, 2012. It had secured the position after almost two decades. The country has plans for the 2019 election aimed at the 2020-21 term. But Vietnam has not complied with its request to step down. Instead it has agreed to support permanent membership for India and to sign the G4 draft on expanding the UNSC membership. In the years to follow, India will have to compete with Afghanistan, the UAE and Mongolia. Pakistan holds one of the Asia-Pacific seats and will be up for the 2023 elections. India appears to have been lagging in diplomatic savvy. It is true that a two-year term at the UNSC necessitates taking a stand on issues which it may wish to duck. But the Security Council confers a status which the UN General Assembly does not. India wants to have a permanent seat to which the current world order should entitle it. Otherwise it cannot assert itself as a major power.
Vietnam’s economic and defence partnership with India is going from strength to strength as a consequence of New Delhi’s Look East policy. India should get closer to Mongolia and welcome Afghanistan’s international exposure. It should engage in promoting bilateral relations with these countries. It should decide whether or not it would participate in the UNSC elections in the near future. That calls for winning friends and influencing people in the neighbouring countries.