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U.S. Officials Tout Indian Nuclear Deal to Suppliers Group
A senior U.S. official said yesterday that the U.S.-Indian nuclear technology sharing agreement would bring India “into the nonproliferation mainstream” and that New Delhi has pledged to adopt export controls similar to those of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 22). “They have a good record on nonproliferation, and they are improving on that,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher in Vienna, where he and acting Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Arms Control Stephen Rademaker are attending a meeting of the group. While the agreement is “not a perfect solution,” he said it would place international safeguards on 90 percent of Indian nuclear reactors, compared with only 18 percent being monitored now. Rademaker praised India’s commitment to adopting export controls, saying “countries that today are seeking nuclear technology or missile technology and today have trouble getting that technology ... would have gone to India.” Boucher said the deal does not reward India for remaining outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and dismissed the assertion that Iran and North Korea could use the agreement to argue for nuclear rights. Iran and North Korea are both NPT member states. North Korea has admitted to operating a nuclear weapons program, while Iran maintains that its nuclear program exists for civilian purposes. “'At a time when certain parties to the (nonproliferation) treaty are tearing up their obligations, breaking seals and throwing out (nuclear) inspectors ... India is taking on new obligations to align itself with ... those who respect the treaty,” Rademaker said (George Jahn, Association Press/OhmyNews.com, March 23). Meanwhile, President George W. Bush yesterday continued his push for the deal, the Associated Press reported. “It's in our interest that India use nuclear power to power their economic growth because ... there’s a global connection between demand for fossil fuels elsewhere and price here,” he said. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns added that “India can be trusted.” In response to concerns expressed by former Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) that the deal could lead to a regional arms race involving India, China and Pakistan, and make it harder to deal with countries such as Iran and North Korea, Burns said, “we take his views very seriously.” He added, however, that “we’re far better off” with having India monitored rather than isolated. “India is a country that does not proliferate,” Burns said. “We are going to make a convincing case.” Burns said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would testify in support of legislation introduced in Congress that would amend U.S. law to allow the deal (Barry Schweid, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, March 23). Burns added that he was hopeful the Nuclear Suppliers Group would support the deal, Agence France-Presse reported. “My very strong sense is that what we're going to hear tomorrow is a lot of countries are going to wait and see if the United States government is able to convince the U.S. Congress to pass the necessary legislation to allow this deal to go forward,” he said. “I think that there'll be a very strong tide of support in the NSG in favor of this, but that's probably a few months away,” he added (Agence France-Presse, March 22). [EDITOR’S NOTE: Sam Nunn is chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and Richard Lugar serves on the NTI board. NTI is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.]
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