Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday welcomed the US decision to lift controls on export of high technology items and technologies to India as well as its offer of support the country's membership in multilateral export control regimes like Nuclear Suppliers' Group.
'It is typical of China's strategic deception of making virtue out of necessity,' observes Rup Narayan Das.
The United States on Monday indicated that it is favourably inclined to the civilian nuclear deal between China and Pakistan, but it should be in compliance with the rules of Nuclear Suppliers Group.
As uncertainty over the fate of the civil nuclear deal continues, the United States has said the pact is likely to clear the hurdles at International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers' Group, but the 'main stumbling block' is the internal political process in India. "If the Indian government approves it, I do think that then what remains is to get an agreement with the IAEA and with the NSG. But I think those things are definitely feasible." John Negroponte said.
Although the credit for acquiring the technological skill must be given to India's outstanding nuclear scientists, the decision to go nuclear was a political one that entailed clarity of vision, courage and resolve, points out Rup Narayan Das.
Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's effusive praise of US President George W Bush during their 2008 meeting in the White House is revisited as a testament to their close relationship and the impact of the landmark Indo-US civil nuclear deal. Singh's statement, while drawing criticism from the Left and BJP, highlighted the transformative nature of the relationship between the two democracies. The article explores the context of their meeting and the broader significance of their relationship in the context of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-Proliferation Thomas Countryman said.
'This was undoubtedly a premeditated strategy to thwart India's entry into the NSG.' 'If India hopes to be a major player, it must use its rising clout on the world stage to influence amenable members of the group to alter such discriminatory practices and ensure fair rules of engagement,' says Vivek Gumaste.
'We should watch -- in the near term -- for signs that the two have totally fallen out at a personal, political level.' 'Trump and Modi know how to be dealmakers, but they also know how to hold a grudge.'
India and the US signed a historic agreement to cooperate in civil nuclear energy sector in October 2008.
At the end of the day, for many worldwide, the ongoing mutual attacks between Israel and Iran would seem a contest devoid of any moral high ground and only a bout between two ordinary adversaries, one that nevertheless risks spinning out of control into a larger conflagration, notes Shyam G Menon.
On the backdrop of surgical strike, the US advised caution given the heavy militarisation between the two neighbours.
The NSG plenary meeting is due to be held next week in the Swiss capital of Bern.
Pakistan has a strong case to gain NSG membership on merit and non-discriminatory basis, Aziz said in a statement.
In an apparent dissatisfaction over Pakistan's opposition to India becoming a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the United States has said it is not about an arms race, but about civilian use of nuclear energy.
Russia on Friday assured that India would continue to enjoy the waiver it received in 2008 from the Nuclear Suppliers Group's export ban and Moscow wants New Delhi's full participation in the 45-nation grouping that regulates global atomic commerce. Russia's assurance came after India objected to the new guidelines adopted in June by the NSG on the export of nuclear enrichment and reprocessing equipment.
India's case for NSG membership is also being strongly pushed by the US, which has written to other members to support India's bid at the plenary meeting of the group expected to be held in Seoul on June 24.
China is all set to announce its intent to provide to Pakistan two nuclear-power reactors, according to a prominent American nuclear expert who said this would breach international protocol about the trade of nuclear equipment and material.
An adamant China on Thursday said "no country should or can put itself opposite the NPT".
The stage is set for a showdown between the government and the Opposition over the GST or Goods and Services Tax Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament, which begins on Monday.
Obama seeks reduction of nuclear arsenal in India and Pakistan while Pakistan seeks NSG membership
The nonproliferation lobby in the United States, which is vehemently opposed to the India-US nuclear deal, has objected strongly to the new draft proposal submitted by the Bush administration to the Nuclear Suppliers Group in Vienna, before it convenes on August 21 to consider the India-specific exemption from NSG rules. The group has termed the proposal 'an abomination that should be flatly rejected by the NSG'.
India's entry into the MTCR comes days after it failed to get Nuclear Suppliers Group membership due to stiff opposition from China and a few other countries.
Acceptance of the draft waiver in its current form could fuel a nuclear arms race in the Asian subcontinent, Edward J Markey, a critic of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal said, as the 45-member grouping yesterday held discussions over the matter as part of a two-day meet in Vienna.
The 10-member ASEAN described the Indo-US nuclear deal as an extremely positive step, hoping that the two countries would be able to conclude the pact soon.
The groups, who direct such attacks against India, have received the patronage of powerful forces and institutions within that country. It is vital that this support must stop forthwith. Any viable process of normalization of our relations with Pakistan is essentially dependent on this requirement since it is unrealistic to think otherwise.
Experts have said that the deal appears to be violating international guidelines forbidding nuclear exports to countries that have not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or do not have international safeguards on reactors.
The US position is that cooperation on the construction of two new reactors, Chasma III and IV, would be inconsistent with the commitments China made at the time of its adherence to Nuclear Suppliers Group guidelines in 2004.
In a significant development, Australia on Tuesday promised to support the Indo-US civil nuclear deal in the Nuclear Suppliers Group and indicated its readiness to supply uranium to India.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs favoured expeditious resumption of fuel supplies to the country's civil nuclear plants.
Expressing concern over the growing proximity between China and Pakistan, Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said this endangers the peace and security of India and sought to know why the government is silent on this issue. BJP pointed out that China is constructing two nuclear power stations in Pakistan and maintained that its engagement with Pakistan is 'laced' with suspicion.
Ahead of the meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group on the India-United States nuclear agreement, US Under Secretary of State William Burns is expected to undertake a visit here as part of efforts to coordinate strategy with India for the August 21 session.During the possible visit, he will hold talks with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, mainly discussing the remaining steps in implementation of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The NSA noted that India has offered to put in a dedicated national facility all the fuel that the US will supply as also the fuel New Delhi will get from other countries.
Reflecting their desire to deepen the strategic partnership, India and Germany have for the first time discussed the possibilities of entering into bilateral cooperation in civil nuclear energy.
Germany on Monday backed India's bid to gain membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, applauding the country's 'excellent' non-proliferation track record.German Ambassador Thomas Mattusek told reporters that India not being a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty will not be an issue for his country's support to India's candidacy to the elite nuclear club, though it would like New Delhi to be a signatory to the NPT.
Notwithstanding the resolution of G-8 countries on curbing transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technology, India on Thursday asserted that it was proceeding with bilateral civil nuclear deals with various countries on the basis of 'clean waiver' granted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
India and South Korea have reached an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation, marking the ninth such pact that New Delhi has finalised since getting the Nuclear Suppliers' Group waiver in 2008.
Canada is considering the proposed exemption for India from the Nuclear Suppliers Group guidelines. The exemption will allow India to import nuclear material and technology under the India-United States civilian nuclear agreement. As a member of NSG, Canada gets a vote on whether to accept an agreement between the US and India to resume trading of civilian nuclear technology and material.
China has apparently decided to adopt a flexible stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal by expressing willingness to do some "creative thinking" along with the international community in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
As India scalps its third nuclear deal this month, the vindication and the victory cannot hide the fact that the all-powerful Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which met in Christchurch, New Zealand last week, failed to dissuade China from supplying two nuclear power reactors to Pakistan in pursuance of two that had earlier been supplied.
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