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Indian Official Defends Nuclear Deal
Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, in Washington to promote the U.S.-Indian nuclear sharing agreement, said yesterday the proposed deal would not spark a nuclear arms race in South Asia, Reuters reported (see GSN, March 30). Saran also reaffirmed India’s vow not to conduct nuclear weapons testing and said India might accept congressional conditions on the deal that do not upset the “delicate balance” of the agreement. “We have not indulged in a nuclear weapons race before this agreement was arrived at (and) there is no reason why it should be expected that merely because we have an agreement on civil energy cooperation, that suddenly the floodgates would be opened by India for a larger and larger arsenal,” he said at a Heritage Foundation event. The White House assumption that the benefits from the deal would outweigh its risks is “every bit as consequential as the decision to topple” Iraq, Michael Krepon, a nonproliferation expert at the Henry L. Stimson Center, said in an online statement. He said the deal — which must be approved by Congress and the international Nuclear Suppliers Groups — would hand India a “free pass” to produce fissile material, expand its nuclear stockpile and test weapons. Other experts have said they worry that the U.S. pledge to supply India with nuclear fuel indefinitely means Washington loses leverage to stop technology sharing if New Delhi tests another weapon. Saran pointed out that India in the agreement vowed to continue its testing moratorium. New Delhi understands that U.S. law forbids nuclear cooperation with states that test weapons, he said. Critics said that loopholes are contained in legislation introduced in Congress making changes to U.S. law to allow the agreement to move forward. They said Congress must have time to review the agreement. Saran said that if U.S. legislation “is within bounds” of the agreement between New Delhi and Washington, “I think we would have no problem.” He added that India must see what changes Congress proposes (Reuters/New York Times, March 30). Saran warned, however, that ties between the United States and India would be hurt if Congress did not approve the deal, Agence France-Presse reported. “If this particular agreement does not go through, there is no doubt there will be, in terms of the expectation that has been created, in terms of the enthusiasm that has been created, there will be some falling back,” he said. “If this does not go through, it does not mean that everything else will fall by the wayside but at the same time we should also recognize that for good reason or bad, there is intense focus on this particular agreement,” Saran added. “Therefore whether we like it or not, this has become very symbolic of what we want to do with India-U.S. relations,” he added (Agence France-Presse I/ChannelNewsAsia.com, March 30). India is expected to begin discussions next week with the International Atomic Energy Agency on opening its civilian reactors to inspections as required by the deal, the Associated Press reported. Anil Kakodkar, chairman of India’s Atomic Energy Commission, is expected to visit Vienna next week to meet with agency head Mohamed ElBaradei (Associated Press, March 31). Meanwhile, a U.S. lawmaker said allegations that India recently offered training for Iranian troops could hurt the chances of the deal receiving congressional support, Agence France-Presse reported. House International Relations Committee ranking Democrat Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) shared these concerns with Saran, according to Lantos spokeswoman Lynne Weil. “Congressman Lantos pointed out that episodes of conflict in relations between U.S. and India, such as India’s early wavering in its commitment to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council and more recent concerns raised about Iranian troops receiving training from India will only undermine congressional support for the deal,” Weil said. The Indian government said that two Iranian naval ships made a six-day “informal” visit to an Indian naval base this month while training in the Arabian Sea. The visit was “diplomatic-goodwill” and not part of any training activity, said Venu Rajamony, a spokesman for the Indian Embassy in Washington (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, March 31).
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