U.S. to aid India on nuclear power
By wire services
Published July 19, 2005
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration Monday reversed a longstanding policy and pledged to provide India with civilian nuclear energy technology, a clear sign of the emerging alliance between the two nations after decades of antagonism.
During the first official visit by an Indian leader in five years, President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hailed a new era of cooperation, promising to work together to spread democracy, fight terrorism and the HIV virus, and break down remaining barriers to trade.
"India and the United States share a commitment to freedom and a belief that democracy provides the best path to a more hopeful future for all people," Bush said after meeting with Singh in the Oval Office. "We also believe that the spread of liberty is the best alternative to hatred and violence."
In a clear victory, India got what it has wanted most in recent years from the United States: promises of nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel to meet its ballooning energy needs. In return, India pledged to "assume the same responsibilities and practices" as other countries with advanced nuclear technology, including separating its civilian and weapons facilities and programs.
It was not immediately clear how difficult it would be for the United States to persuade Congress, as well as other major nuclear weapons states - Britain, France, China and Russia - to go along with this change of status for India.
The basic international regime governing such matters has been in place since President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed an "atoms for peace" bargain in which countries voluntarily give up nuclear arms in return for the ability to obtain nuclear energy components like reactors and fuel and operate programs under international inspection.
The program is codified in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, which has 187 signatories, including five countries with nuclear weapons. But several major countries like India, Pakistan and Israel have refused to sign it.
A senior State Department official, giving a briefing under ground rules in which he could not be identified, said that the Bush administration still hoped India would eventually give up nuclear weapons and that the administration rebuffed an Indian request to be recognized formally as a nuclear weapons state under the treaty.
According to a joint declaration issued after their meetings, "President Bush conveyed his appreciation to the prime minister over India's strong commitment to preventing weapons of mass destruction proliferation and stated that as a responsible state with advanced nuclear technology, India should acquire the same benefits and advantages as other states."
Singh, while not committing to signing any treaties, pledged to adhere to many of the same rules as other nuclear powers, including revealing its civilian nuclear facilities to the International Atomic Energy Agency, maintaining its moratorium on nuclear testing and working with the United States to end the production of fissile material needed to make a bomb.
Singh was welcomed to the White House on Monday with pomp and circumstance, a stark departure from the icy relations during the Cold War, when then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru established the Nonaligned Movement. "We share a common commitment to democracy, freedom, human rights, pluralism and rule of law," Singh said. "We face common challenges that threaten our way of life and values that both our countries hold dear. We share a common resolve and a common responsibility to meet those challenges."
Singh's day ended with a White House dinner. It was not a state dinner because a prime minister is not head of state, but it had all the trappings of one.
The event was only the fifth grand dinner of Bush's presidency, and the first of his second term.