“Support reforms”: US official on Elon Musk’s statement on India’s permanent seat on the UNSC

A top Biden administration official said that the US supports much-needed reforms to the UN, particularly the Security Council, to make it more representative of the 21st-century world. This comes amid mounting clamor for India to be admitted as a permanent member of the powerful organization.

Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the State Department Vedant Patel made these comments in response to a query on billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s claim that the UN is meaningless without India’s permanent seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC).

He said that in his speech to the UN General Assembly, President Joe Biden had already discussed the need for changes. “We wholeheartedly endorse modifications to the United Nations organization, encompassing the Security Council, in order to better align it with the realities of the contemporary world.” At a news conference on Wednesday, Patel said, “We definitely see that there is a need for change. I don’t have any details on what those measures are, however.

The CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, supported India’s UNSC membership earlier this year.

Musk had said that the UN’s existing configuration did not fairly represent the most populated countries on earth. He has said, “The UN bodies need to be revised at some point.”

“The issue is that people in positions of excess power are unwilling to cede them. Musk, 52, had said that it was “absurd” that India, the most populous nation on Earth, did not have a permanent place on the Security Council. Musk is anticipated to make an announcement about the company’s ambitions to invest in India when he travels there later this month.

India has been leading the charge for years to change the UN Security Council, arguing that the body’s existing structure does not adequately reflect the geopolitical realities of the twenty-first century and that it is entitled to a permanent seat at the top table.

There are now five permanent members of the UNSC: the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China. Any meaningful resolution may be vetoed only by a permanent member. On behalf of the G4 countries—Brazil, Germany, Japan, and India—last month, it unveiled a comprehensive plan for reforming the Security Council. The G4 model suggests adding six permanent and four or five non-permanent members to the Security Council, bringing the total number of members from the current 15 to 25–26.