NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that a milestone
accord signed by India and the United States to access civilian
nuclear technology was not a military alliance aimed against
China.
"I want to dispel illusions. We are not ganging up against any
country, least of all China. This is not a military alliance or any
alliance against any country," Singh told parliament during a
four-hour debate on his state visit last month to the US.
In the accord, Singh agreed to separate India's civilian and
military nuclear programmes, open its facilities to International
Atomic Energy Agency scrutiny and work to prevent nuclear
proliferation.
Singh argued the deal only aims to boost India's economic growth
and added that it would not affect ties between Beijing and New
Delhi.
President George W. Bush said during Singh's visit to Washington
that he would ask Congress and allied nations to lift sanctions
preventing Indian access to civil nuclear technology as part of a
new bilateral partnership.
The United States had placed sanctions on India after its second
round of nuclear tests in May 1998, but agreed after attacks
against the United States on September 11, 2001, to waive those and
other sanctions in return for support in what the US calls a war on
terrorism.
India is not a party to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).
US law bars export of technology that could aid a nuclear program
of any country that has not signed the treaty.
In Washington Singh said his country would agree to "assume the
same responsibilities and practices" as other leading nations with
advanced nuclear technology, and pledged to maintain India's
moratorium on nuclear testing.
The accord came after defence ministers from the two countries in
June signed a 10-year agreement paving the way for joint weapons
production, cooperation on missile defence and possible lifting of
US export controls for sensitive military technologies.
Analysts see Washington's move to boost relations with India as
part of a strategy to counter the growing influence of China,
India's immediate neighbour.
But Singh said Wednesday: "We see new horizons in our relations
with China. What we have done with the United States is not at the
cost of China or any other country."
Instead, "we have broken new grounds in promoting closer relations
with that great neighbour of ours," he said, referring to a state
visit to India by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in April.
Singh and the Chinese leader signed an agreement in April which set
out a roadmap to settle a border dispute without the use of
force.
The two countries also set themselves a target of increasing
bilateral trade to 20 billion dollars by 2008 from a current 14
billion dollars.
Singh said during his talks with the US leadership he underlined
improving ties between the world's two most populous nations.
"I had made it quite clear that we want to remain engaged with
China," he said, adding that he sees "new horizons in our economic
relations with that country."
Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, insisted the
accord aimed at increasing cooperation in civilian nuclear
technology to meet India's growing energy demands.
He said India's relations with the United States are of great
importance in helping his country move towards becoming the world's
second or third largest economy.
"Our engagement with the US is essential," Singh said.
from Channel News Asia
what all u think about this development.... are we heading towards
an era where america will use india and trash it afterwards and at
the same time bring hell to china... seems to me that indian are
quite stupid to fall for the carrot being dangled infront of them
by the americans ....history have shown that indian were Fcuked by
the angmo's last time and may be the same story but with a
different vilian this time!!!
