World | USA
Future of nuke pact with US remains uncertain
Jeopardised by an Indian political squabble, the landmark US-India nuclear deal - one of President George W. Bush's top foreign policy priorities - risks being left to an uncertain fate when the next American president takes office in January.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:34 April 5, 2008
Washington: Jeopardised by an Indian political squabble, the landmark US-India nuclear deal - one of President George W. Bush's top foreign policy priorities - risks being left to an uncertain fate when the next American president takes office in January.
The three contenders to replace Bush - Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and Republican John McCain - endorsed legislation in late 2006 that would reverse three decades of American anti-proliferation policy by allowing US shipments of civilian nuclear fuel to India.
Opposition
The pact now faces fierce domestic opposition in India, where communist parties that are crucial to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's parliamentary majority continue to bar it.
The next US president could revive Bush's coveted deal if it should fail this year, but it is not clear that any of the candidates would consider it a priority. Also, the new administration would be working without many of the high-level Bush officials who led painstaking talks with India and then persuaded sceptical US lawmakers to approve the deal.
"It just becomes much more burdensome, because the principal players who were involved in the negotiations will have moved on. There will be a loss of collective memory," said Ashley J. Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has advised McCain's Asia campaign.
"It's entirely possible, for someone who doesn't like the agreement, to simply say, if they were to come into office: 'Thank you very much, this is the policy of the last administration. I don't want to have any part of it'," Tellis said.
The pact is portrayed by Bush as the cornerstone of what he hopes will be a new strategic relationship with India, a growing power in Asia with what Bush considers a responsible nuclear program.
Some see a strong India as a possible counterweight in the region to China. Critics say the deal would ruin global efforts to stop the spread of atomic weapons and boost India's nuclear arsenal.
The State Department warned Thursday that "time is running out." The US says India must approve the agreement soon if US lawmakers are going to have enough time to take it up before they leave for a break in August.
Indian communist parties, which are crucial to the survival of Singh's government, have threatened to pull their support if Singh should try to complete the deal.
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