Bush Looks to Ease Restrictions and Offer Nuclear Cooperation to India

The Bush administration plans to ease domestic and international restrictions on nuclear trade with India, a move that would allow for the transfer of civilian nuclear technology to New Delhi, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.

India has never joined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and does not permit international nuclear inspectors to examine all of its nuclear facilities. U.S. law and international trade agreements prohibit the supply of nuclear technology to nations that refuse international oversight of their entire nuclear power infrastructure, according to AFP. India incurred additional sanctions after it tested nuclear weapons in 1998 (see GSN, July 5).

President George W. Bush said yesterday he would “seek agreement from Congress to adjust U.S. laws and policies” and work with “friends and allies to adjust international regimes” allowing for nuclear cooperation with India, according to a joint U.S.-India press statement.

Such cooperation could include “expeditious consideration of fuel supplies” for the Tarapur nuclear power plant, which was constructed with U.S. assistance, Bush announced.

Bush praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, traveling in Washington, for India’s efforts to prevent WMD proliferation, saying that “as a responsible state with advanced nuclear technology, India should acquire the same benefits and advantages as other such states” (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, July 18).

India, for its part, “is fully conscious of the immense responsibilities that come with the possession of advanced technologies, both civilian and strategic,” Singh said today before a joint session of the U.S. Congress (Associated Press, CNN.com, July 19).

Speaking yesterday, he said India would place its civilian nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards and would separate civilian facilities from those with military applications.

Singh added that New Delhi would maintain its moratorium on nuclear testing.

The State Department said the new understanding does not mean the United States has recognized India as a nuclear-weapon state.

“That’s a separate matter. India is not part of the NPT”, said Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns.

India raised the recognition issue, but “we said no, we couldn’t do that, given the fact that they didn’t adhere to the NPT,” said a senior U.S. official (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com).

It could take months for U.S. lawmakers and other nations to approve the nuclear cooperation with India, a U.S. official told Reuters.

Some lawmakers said they would not support lifting sanctions.

“We cannot play favorites, breaking the rules of the Nonproliferation Treaty, to favor one nation at the risk of undermining critical international treaties on nuclear weapons,” said Representative Ed Markey (D-Mass.).

Some nuclear proliferation experts agreed.

“The president just gave India everything it wanted. He’s rewarding India despite that country’s remaining outside the global NPT regime,” said Joseph Cirincione, nonproliferation director at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“This is the triumph of great power politics over nonproliferation policy,” he said (Paul Eckert, Reuters/Yahoo!News, July 19).

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