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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JPR who wrote (9860)	12/1/1999 8:52:00 AM
From: JPR	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12475

India's Nuclear policy gaining world stature India has declared a moratorium on undertaking any further underground nuclear test explosions, but rand activity, including computer simulation and sub-critical tests, shall be conducted as necessary. By Umashankar Phadnis NEW DELHI, Nov 30: Indian Foreign Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh asserted on Monday that India's nuclear diplomacy had "come out of the defensive corner it found itself in May 1968". He hoped that India was now on the verge of gaining enhanced international stature. Mr Singh's self-confidence on the government's nuclear policy was the highlight of an exclusive interview he gave to the strategic affairs editor of daily The Hindu, and was in the nature of an exercise to evolve consensus on the nuclear doctrine set out by the national security council. The NSC had spelt out the essentials of a nuclear policy. In his discussions with the major powers, Mr Singh had repeatedly said that the government was engaged in securing such a consensus before acceding to the CTBT. In the course of the interview Mr Singh had been asked about the outcome of the nine rounds of security-related talks he had with the US Deputy Secretary of State, Strobe Talbott, dispelling the view that the talks had come to a dead-end. Mr Singh said: "By restating the objectives from our side (our purpose) was two-fold. The first to reconcile the stated US non-proliferation concerns with India's security objectives; secondly in a broader context, to develop greater mutual understanding so that both countries are enabled to work together in developing the real potential of a qualitatively new relationship, essential in the post-cold war environment." In Mr Singh's opinion setting a time frame for the conclusion of the dialogue were both "unpractical and unrealistic". He maintained that the first phase of the dialogue was the restoration of the relationship to pre-1986 position. He believed further: "I would consider it (first phase) attained when both India and the US engaged in regular dialogue on a range of issues covering bilateral, regional and global political and economic issues." Mr Singh expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the talks, and said they were encouraging. Thus, "There is recognition that India shall maintain a minimum deterrent as determined by it. There is no longer any talk of a 'roll-back,' the US also accepts that India's security concerns are not geographically limited. Foreign policy tasks and challenges are a continuing process, therefore, we need to consolidate these understandings across all sections that make up the US foreign policy establishment." Specifically dealing with the CTBT, Mr Singh denied the charges that there was confusion about India's stand. He explained "in 1996 we could not accept the CTBT because it was not in our national interests. It was clear that the subscription to the treaty at that time would have limited India's nuclear potential at an unacceptably low level. "After conducting the nuclear tests in May 1998, to validate and upgrade our nuclear technology, we ensured the credibility of our deterrent into the foreseeable future, our scientists are now confident of conducting sub-critical tests as also their non-explosive activity necessary for the purpose. That is why we have declared a voluntary moratorium. This, in essence, meets the basic obligations of the CTBT. We also declared our intention to convert this undertaking to a dejure obligation clearly this cannot be done in a political vacuum. A positive environment had to be created." Mr Singh said the central purpose of India's dialogue with different countries was to convey India's approach to them. However, so far as the CTBT was concerned, the government felt that a great deal had been left to be desired in the manner in which it was being negotiated. Dealing with the nuclear doctrine, Mr Singh clarified that the national security which had commissioned the NSC to sign the country's nuclear doctrine, was a non-official body which had brought a draft for discussion. As such, he clarified, as it stood, it was not a policy document of the government. The key elements of a nuclear policy of the government which had been presented to the parliament last December by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, according to Mr Singh, were as follows: a) India shall maintain a minimum nuclear deterrent and undertake necessary steps to ensure its credibility. b) India has declared a moratorium on undertaking any further underground nuclear test explosions, but rand activity, including computer simulation and sub-critical tests, shall be conducted as necessary. c) Development work on an extended-range Agni missile is underway and a successful flight test was carried out earlier this year. Additional flight testing shall be undertaken in a manner that is non-provocative, transparent and consistent with established international norms and practices. d) India has declared a no-first-use doctrine. This has implicit in it the principle that it shall not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states. e) In order that our minimum deterrent be credible, we shall adopt and maintain a deployment posture that ensures survivability of assets. Such a posture, obviously, provides for greater safety and security. f) India will not engage in any arms race. We shall not, therefore, pursue an open-ended programme. g) A civilian command and control system, with necessary safeguards, shall cater for all possible contingencies. h) India's commitment to global nuclear disarmament remains undiluted. We will continue to work with other like-minded countries and take initiatives for moving towards a nuclear weapon-free world. We will also seek to negotiate CBM's, both in the conventional and nuclear fields with the aim of reducing lack of trust in the region."