While
I was going through my phone this evening, I came across a notification from a
very famous tabloid app. It read as follows “WHO asserts coronavirus “likely”
came from animals and not manufactured in a lab.” How much ever we debate on
the facts, statements like these still are not proven, all these reports are
still dangling. While talking about facts, there is one more I would like to
mention here, this report comes after The U.S. President was trying to
determine whether the virus originated from a lab in Wuhan, China.
The
WHO and Trump Government had a dramatic fall-out over the pandemic, with the President
of the U.S.A. announcing last week that he is halting his country’s funding to the
organization. Which he finally did. U.S.A used to be the topmost contributor to
the revenue of WHO by contributing around 400 Million Dollars a year – which is
almost 15% of the total revenue that WHO use to get. Even China had rejected
U.S.A’s demand to allow their team to go to Wuhan in order to probe into the
outbreak of the Chinese Virus.
While U.S.A is so powerful and has the audacity to go after China and WHO, this all together took me to a different world of fictional thinking as to what else can U.S.A do, to damage China? What if the Virus was produced in a lab and not coming out of an animal? Can China be stripped of his “VETO” Power and would that mean it will be off the seat of the permanent members from the United Nations Security Council? Well, "this question was something not so fictional" – I spoke to myself. There must be some way or the other that it can be done, so I did some research on this which I would like to share with you all.
For
this we will need to understand what is “UNSC” and what is “Veto” Power. Before
starting I would like to mention that I do not want to get into the legal
languages or anything of that sort if anyone still wants to read it from the United
Nations charter, I will provide a link to it. A Charter is a written
document which states the grant of power as well as defines the rights and
privileges of the organization. Hence, I will try to explain in a sequence and
that too in a lay man’s language as much as I can.
To
start with “United Nations” (UN) is an international organization and as of
today, 193 countries are part of this organization. The mission and work of the
UN is guided by purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter.
Here I would like to mention an interesting fact that the year 2020 marks the 75th
Anniversary of the UN. Since there are so many powers vested in the UN it can
act on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st Century, such as
1. Peace & Security
2. Climate Change
3. Sustainable Development
4. Human Rights
5. Disarmament
6. Terrorism
7. Humanitarian and Health Emergencies
8. Gender Equality
9. Governance
10. Food
Production, etc.
In
the current Pandemic situation because of the #Chinese Virus point no. 7
(Humanitarian and Health Emergencies) has its role play.
Further,
there are 6 major organs of UN namely General Assembly, Security Council,
Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of
Justice, Secretariat. Where we are going to focus on the “Security Council” arm
of the UN. The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the United
Nations Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security. It is
for the Security Council to determine when and where a UN peace operation
should be deployed. Of the 193 members of the UN, there are 15 members in the
UNSC (United Nations Security Council.) 5 Permanent and 10 non-permanent
members. Well the fun fact here is that China is one of the “Permanent Member”
of the UNSC all thanks to our Chacha Nehru.
By
now you must be thinking that why I have so many emotions (Sarcasm) for
China? To being with, a Permanent Member at the UNSC has one more power to in
his kitty known as the “VETO” Power. Veto is nothing but a constitutional right
to reject a decision, discussion, or proposal by a law-making body. I am sure
that this right was introduced for good, but this has done no good deed lately.
As China recently blocked a discussion on Chinese Virus Transparency. This
is not the first time China has done something like this. It has always made a point to use its Veto
power for its benefit.
Now
the major question here arises is, can China be removed from UNSC? We can see
the 4 possibilities of how a member can be removed from the UNSC.
CASE 1 - By making an amendment to the UN Charter.
This
would require a 2/3 (Special Majority) votes of all the members of the UN
General Assembly and all the permanent members of the Security Council must
vote in its favor.
Conclusion: Effectively it means that a permanent member of the
UNSC cannot be removed from UNSC without its consent. That is China will not leave
without its own consent as well the countries that it has influence has to also
vote against it, which is one of the legal ways to remove China from UNSC
permanent membership but not feasible.
CASE 2 - Through the Charter
A
Member of the United Nations which has persistently violated the Principles
contained in the present Charter can be removed. But it may be expelled from
the organization by the general assembly only upon the recommendation of the
Security Council.
Conclusion: Again, here China would need to Vote against itself.
Which is not possible.
By
now I guess it’s clearly understood how important Veto Power is?
Case 3 – All Countries come together and boycott China
for its negligence on the Chinese Virus.
First,
I would like to mention that this point is not relevant as per law and Byelaws
of the UN Charter. For this, all the other 192 countries must come forward to
block China and go against it. But again, given the fact that China shares such a wonderful relationship with Russia, Iran, Pakistan, etc. this seems not doable.
Conclusion: again, it is impossible to boycott a country with
such a huge population and such good relations with the mighty countries as
well.
All
in all, the answer is there is no way to get China out of the UNSC – for
this you can thank Mr. Nehru once again who legitimately gave away the
permanent membership to China, where it was initially offered to INDIA.
As
we were talking about some fun facts in this article, here is one more,
initially, Taiwan used to be a permanent member of UNSC but as on today it is
not even a member of the UN General Assembly. This happened when the Republic of
China (Taiwan) was taken over by the Peoples Republic of China (Mainland China)
also called as Communist Party of China after the Chinese Revolution. Now as we are aware that China wants the
world to consider Taiwan as his property and is very vocal about this stating
that Taiwan is one of its own provinces.
Now
that we realized that it not possible to remove China from being a permanent
member at the UNSC, what we can do to overtake China, it is necessary for this a scenario that all the developing countries like India become economically powerful
to give a fight to China as well as grow the military powers to a certain level
where the Chinese will need to think a hundred times more to obstruct anyone else
in their work.
A key aspect has been India’s demand that it be accorded a seat as a permanent
member at the UN Security Council. Indian leaders have used various platforms
including the UN General Assembly to remind the international community of
India’s suitability as a permanent member. The results have not been entirely
disappointing. Prominent powers like the United States, the United Kingdom,
France and Russia have shown enthusiasm toward India’s call for membership to
different degrees at various points. However, a notable opponent has been China.
In the contemporary context, this is not surprising given that India and China do
not enjoy the smoothest of relationships. The two have a long, disputed border
running along the Himalayas that has given rise to considerable tension and
war-mongering, most recently during the face-off in the Doklam region in 2017.
India and China are also engaged in seeking influence and strategic toeholds in
the South Asian region and the Indian Ocean region.
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