Marco Rubio says broken global system cannot handle India-Pakistan tensions
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said it would be "great" if there were a functional international system to deal with potential conflicts around the world, including those between India and Pakistan. Speaking to reporters in New York during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly, Rubio said the current system was not able to address major conflicts effectively.
He said there was "unanimity and consensus" during the UNGA week that the international system was broken, and argued that it had moved beyond its original role and purpose. Rubio also said that in the absence of an effective international system, countries would act in their own national interest.
"We see the utility in the international system. We're here...I think the President has said that the United Nations, for example, has tremendous potential, but it's not living up to it...," Rubio said. He added, "I think multiple leaders...pointed to the fact that the international system is failing, and it's failing because it has grown beyond its mandate. It has grown beyond its intent. It's involved in all kinds of things that shouldn't be involved in, and it's unable to solve virtually any major conflict in the world."
The top US diplomat said the system needed to return to its "proper focus" and "proper role". "But it's broken because it broke itself. It needs to be brought back to its proper focus and its proper role. It would be great if we had a functional international system, for example, that could deal with a war between Thailand and Cambodia that occurred, or a potential conflict between India and Pakistan...Right now, we don't seem to have a functional international system that can address it," he said.
Rubio said that until that happens, nation-states will continue to act in their own interest. "I want to be clear because this is not an attack on the international system. But at the end of the day, the US will always act, at least as long as President Trump is in office, we will always act in the national interest of our country, not in the interest of the international order. We will never put the international order above the interest of the United States," he said.
His comments came a day after Trump repeated his claim at the UN General Assembly that he had settled the war between India and Pakistan last year, one of the eight conflicts he said he had ended. Trump has been making that claim since May 10 last year, when he said on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a "full and immediate" ceasefire after a "long night" of talks mediated by Washington.
India has consistently maintained that the understanding on stopping hostilities with Pakistan was reached after direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations of the two militaries. It has denied any third-party intervention, even as Rubio said a functional international system would be better placed to address such conflicts.
