Washington, January 6
In a strong endorsement of India's quest to acquire technology and equipment to generate atomic power, US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice has said that it will have to have civilian nuclear energy and not be dependent on countries posing concerns.
She also rejected the notion that US was adopting double standards on the nuclear issue, that democracies like India and Israel could have it and others like Iran or North Korea could not.
At an interactive session at the State Department Correspondents Meeting yesterday, Rice said US couldn't have it both ways — telling carbon-dependent countries like India not to engage in energy relations with a nation like Iran and at the same time withholding from New Delhi access to civilian nuclear energy.
"We have to recognise that India is a big and important and growing economy. It will have to access civil nuclear energy if it's not to be totally dependent on carbon and if it is not to be dependent on carbon relationships with countries that we've had concerns about," Rice said.
She rejected the perception that the US was adopting double standards on the nuclear issue and that democracies like India and Israel could have it and others like Iran or North Korea could not, saying Washington does not worry about certain nations because they have demonstrated no desire for nuclear weapons while there are others who cheat on their obligations.
"We worry not at all about civil nuclear power in those countries because they have demonstrated no desire toward nuclear weapons...the worst cases are people who are under IAEA safeguards, under NPT obligations, and then they cheat on those obligations... And we have a couple of cases of those we're working right now — North Korea and Iran," she added.
— PTI
