I wrote a similar letter to Bill Clinton today:
TOI (5/20/98)
US speaker, Kissinger warn Clinton Admn
By Ramesh Chandran
The Times of India News Service
WASHINGTON: In an outspoken endorsement to ''Indian
democracy'' over ''Chinese dictatorship,'' speaker of the US House of
Representatives, Newt Gingrich, has lashed out at the ''double
standards'' of the Clinton administration.
In a privately-circulated May 14 ''Dear Colleague'' letter - obtained by
The Times of India from congressional sources, Mr Gingrich wrote
about the risk not only to US national security but also to the global
security scenario by the Clinton administration knowingly allowing
the ''transfer of American missile technology to China.'' He said these
transfers helped to make Beijing's missile systems ''more deadly
through multiple warheads on each missile.''
The Republican speaker from Georgia, in his letter, said this
technology may soon improve Iranian missiles as well since recent
studies by the Congressional Research Service had documented
''nearly two dozen transfers of missile technology and materials by
China to Iran and Pakistan'' which were in clear violation of US law
and international treaties. Mr Gingrich pointed out that China had
conducted at least 45 nuclear tests and used US technology to
improve missiles ''pointed at US cities and they have been the world's
worst offender in aiding proliferation of the nuclear demon.'' Despite
this overwhelming evidence of continuing Chinese misbehaviour, the
Clinton administration has ''continued its failed policy of
accommodation and acquiescence,'' he added.
In stark contrast, the Congressman wrote, ''the Clinton policy of
accommodation towards communist China, the administration roared
with outrage when a democratic Indian government chose to test its
nuclear capability. India is a country facing potential threat from
China. China has deployed nuclear missiles in neighbouring Tibet,
improved its missile capabilities with US assistance, and never
renounced its claim to part of eastern India.'' Mr Gingrich pointed out
that the Clinton administration would rather confront an Indian
democracy than anger a Chinese dictatorship. ''This double
standard,'' he said, ''in administration actions - disregarding China's
far more dangerous actions while sanctioning India - is appalling.
With one hand the Clinton administration gives China access to
sensitive missile technology, while the other slaps India for trying to
protect itself from the consequences of this improved technology.''
(PTI adds: Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, too, has
voiced support for India's need for a deterrent against China, saying
major sanctions against India for the tests it conducted ''are probably
a mistake.'' He has warned against the dangers of a long period of
confrontation between India and the US.
''I don't believe China has any intention of attacking India with
nuclear weapons, but the conventional wisdom has been that
deterrence between countries of that size works. If these weapons
are a threat to anybody, I believe it is not primarily to China. It is
more to neighbours that do not have means of retaliation,'' Mr
Kissinger told CNN recently.
He, however, said that he felt it would be a good move by India if it
accepted the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
On US sanctions, Mr Kissinger said India has to accept that what it
did is not cost-free. ''So some reaction, limited in time, somewhat
costly to India, is understandable, but we must not let this thing drag
us into a long confrontation, especially since there is nothing we can
ask the Indians to do.''
''Now that the tests have been set off, it would be helpful if India
joined the test ban treaty, he said, adding ''they (India) have already
said they will do no more testing.'') |
