India Says Nuclear Deal Will Not Spark Arms Race

[Batgirl]

By CAROL GIACOMO, REUTERS

India, pressing for U.S. congressional approval of a landmark nuclear energy agreement, on March 30 rejected suggestions the deal might provoke a South Asia arms race and reaffirmed its commitment to a voluntary moratorium on atomic weapons testing.

Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran also opened the door to New Delhi accepting certain unspecified congressional modifications to the deal as long as they do not upset the "delicate balance" of understandings negotiated with the Bush administration.

"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 told the Heritage Foundation think tank.

Under the pact, agreed in principle last July 18, India would receive U.S. nuclear technology, including reactors and nuclear fuel, in return for separating its military and civil facilities and opening the civilian plants to international inspections.

India has been barred from acquiring foreign nuclear technology for three decades because it refused to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and developed nuclear weapons.

President George W. Bush is now seeking changes in U.S. law and international regulations to treat India as a special exemption, arguing that a close partnership with this rising democratic power and its new acceptance of certain international non-proliferation standards advances U.S. interests.
But the deal faces opposition on both fronts.

’FREE PASS’ FOR INDIA?
Non-proliferation expert Michael Krepon of the Henry L. Stimson Center, in a Web site posting, said the administration’s gamble that the nuclear deal’s benefits will outweigh proliferation risks is "every bit as consequential as the decision to topple" Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.

The deal gives India a "free pass" on nuclear testing, fissile material production and stockpile growth, he said.

Some experts fear that an administration promise to ensure India an indefinite supply of nuclear reactor fuel means Washington is giving up leverage to halt technology cooperation if India, which tested nuclear weapons in 1998, does so again.

The five major nuclear weapon states -- the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain -- have not tested for years and this is considered an important control on the spread of nuclear arms.

Saran noted the July 18 agreement in principle stated that India would maintain its voluntary moratorium on testing. U.S. law requires an end to nuclear cooperation with any state that explodes a nuclear device and India accepts this, he said.

But some critics see loopholes in the implementing legislation before Congress and say lawmakers must have an opportunity to examine the technical peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement with India that still must be completed.

U.S. and Indian officials have repeatedly rejected threats by some American lawmakers to put conditions on the deal, saying this would force a renegotiation that likely would kill the agreement and set back rapidly improving U.S.-India ties.

Saran softened on this somewhat, saying as long as the U.S. legislation "is within bounds" of India’s understandings with the administration, "I think we would have no problem." But this is hypothetical for now and it is important to see exactly what Congress proposes, he said.

Saran held talks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other senior officials and also lobbied lawmakers in support of the nuclear deal.

Defense News

[Grimmy]

Did they do the special hooked pinkies thing while intoning "if I lie, stick a needle in my eye"?