NEW DELHI — Sixty years after its establishment, the United Nations is at a crossroads, its future direction and authority uncertain, even as it struggles with the diminution of its role in world affairs. Reforms are essential to revitalize the U.N.'s role, shore up its legitimacy and make it politically more relevant to 21st-century realities. Yet the issue of reforms is getting ensnared in sharpening international power politics.

This is evident from a series of developments. China's officially scripted mob protests against Japan last month appeared designed to torpedo Tokyo's bid to become a permanent member of an enlarged U.N. Security Council. By opposing Japan, Beijing seeks to block any expansion of the council's permanent membership, as it has made evident by insisting on unanimity within the U.N. General Assembly on any reform proposal and by criticizing the draft resolution on enlargement unveiled by an aspiring Group of Four (G4) nations.

The United States, for its part, has warned the four — Brazil, Germany, India and Japan — not to press for veto power in their joint campaign for council permanent seats. Russia, too, is reluctant to extend veto authority to new permanent members. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in India early this year that Moscow wanted to "preserve the Security Council's existing decision-making integrity."