Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday told members of the U.S. Congress India would never accept a unilateral freeze or cap on its nuclear arsenal.In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, Miss Rice said the Bush administration had raised this issue with the Indians, "but the Indians said that its plans and policies must take into account regional realities."
"No one can credibly assert that India would accept what would amount to an arms control agreement that did not include other key countries, like China and Pakistan," she said.
In testimony before lawmakers, Miss Rice countered critics of the U.S.-India civilian nuclear agreement and urged members of the U.S. Congress to support what she described as a "path-breaking" deal. The "driving force" behind this agreement, she said, was the strategic partnership with India.
The agreement "obviously deserves the support of the U.S. Senate," Miss Rice told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, adding the Bush administration was prepared to continue its discussions and briefings "to the point that you feel that you have the information that you need to make this determination."
Miss Rice appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the morning and was scheduled to discuss the deal with the House International Relations Committee later in the afternoon.
Responding to concerns raised by the nonproliferation lobby in Congress and several U.S. think tanks, Miss Rice said while nonproliferation policies had been adopted in the past to try and constrain and change Indian behavior, these policies did not achieve their goals. "In fact, they had no effect on India's development of nuclear weapons. They didn't prevent India and Pakistan from testing nuclear weapons in 1998. They contributed little to lessening regional tensions, which brought India and Pakistan repeatedly to the brink of war," she noted.
The Bush administration is seeking legislation to amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to enable nuclear cooperation with India. "We believe that this initiative will unlock the progress of our expanding relationship in other areas," Miss Rice said.
She said the initiative with India does not seek to renegotiate or amend the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to which India is not a signatory. "India is not and is not going to become a member of the NPT as a nuclear weapons state. We are simply seeking to address an untenable situation. India has never been party to the NPT . but this agreement does bring India into the nonproliferation framework and thus strengthen the regime," she said.
She dismissed concerns that civil nuclear cooperation with India would lead to an arms race in South Asia. "Nothing we or any other potential international suppliers provide to India under this initiative will enhance its military capacity or add to its military stockpile," she said, adding, the nuclear balance in the region is a function of the political and military situation in the region.
Responding to criticism from some members of Congress, she said the initiative does not complicate U.S. policies toward countries like North Korea or Iran. "It is simply not credible to compare India to North Korea or to Iran. While Iran and North Korea are violating their IAEA obligations, India is making new obligations by bringing the IAEA into the Indian programme and seeking peaceful international cooperation," she said.
