No objection from China for India's bid for UNSC seat: Yechury

Beijing, July 16 (PTI) China has said that it has "no
objection" to India's candidature for a permanent seat in the
UN Security Council but was firmly opposed to Japan's bid for
the same due to "historical baggage", according to CPI(M)
leader Sitaram Yechury.
China's stand in this regard was conveyed to CPI(M)
politburo member, Yechury by top Chinese diplomat and State
Councillor Dai Bingguo.
"He (Dai) bent over backwards to explain to me saying
that they are not against India being there (UNSC) at all,"
Yechury who held a two hour long meeting with Dai on Friday
told Indian media here today.
"China has no objection to India becoming (permanent)
member of UNSC. India is India but not as part of G-4," he
said, adding that that it was for the first time perhaps there
was a sense of clarity in China's stand on India's bid.
But at the same time the Chinese diplomat stated that
China has problem to come out in support as India has become
part of the G-4 group, (India, Japan, Germany and Brazil) to
campaign for its UNSC bid.
"For us there is historical baggage with Japan and
China can never accept Japan's membership," he told Yechury.
India should have verified with China before joining the G-4,
(India, Japan, Germany and Brazil) as Beijing can not support
Japan’s bid due to historical discord.
"The fact that India chose to be in Japan's company
and if anybody talked (to us) we would have immediately told
to you that," Yechury who is in China on the invitation of
ruling Communist Party of China, (CPC) to develop party to
party relations quoted Dai as saying.
He said Dai, the designated Chinese Special
Representative along with India's National Security Advisor,
(NSA) Shivshankar Menon for talks resolve border dispute
"dropped" in to meet him for 45 minutes.
But the meeting went on for over two hours.
During the talks a whole lot of issues including a
joint approach to contain terrorism and China's support for
Pakistan also figured.
So far China is the only country among the permanent
five, (US, UK, Russia, France and China) which has not come
out in support of India's bid in categorical terms.
Beijing's open opposition to Japan perhaps would make
the process of UNSC reform more complex.
Yechury said for its part CPI(M) advocated India to
stake its claim for the UNSC permanent membership as a leader
of the developing countries and not part of G-4, specially
Japan and Germany which was part of fascist forces during the
second world war.
Stating that US was complicating by linking reforms
with alliances, he said "the expansion of UNSC can not will
not happen in isolation.
Now if it is tied up with other things of UN reform it
will take many many years to happen," he said.
Yechury said in his talks with Dai he has raised
"irritants" like China's support Pakistan and negative effect
it had on Sino-Indian ties.
On the latest Mumbai terrorist attacks and India's
concerns on terrorism, China is sending a signal that it is
with India. But they do not want to "complicate" it by mixing
up its close relation with Pakistan, he said.
China wants to develop close ties with India
independent of its relationship with Pakistan he said.
"They are trying to give a signal there that please do
not complicate it because our relationship with Pakistan," he
said. He said he has also asked about India's concern's
relating to the presence of Chinese troops in Pakistan
Occupied Kashmir, (PoK).
"His explanation was that it is entirely humanitarian
effort after the earthquake (two years ago) and nothing
special. Nothing special," he said, adding that he was happy
that China had resolved the stapled visa (to residents of
Jammu and Kashmir), which enabled two countries to resume
defence contacts.
"One thing is good that on the stapled visa they
have now gone back, which is good. There is a historical
baggage of distrust," he said, adding that Chinese leadership
feel that relationship is improving with regular meetings
between the top leaders of both the countries.
He said bilateral trade which has touched over USD
61 billion could play a vital role in proving ties between the
two countries.
While China wants to access Indian markets as well
as lucrative markets in view of its dwindling exports markets
due to world economic crisis, India could leverage China's
skills and investment for developing its infrastructure at
much lower costs, he said.