US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Indian Defense Minister A. K. Antony on Wednesday, with their talks focused on the US-India civilian nuclear deal and bilateral military operation.

Important talks

Although US and Indian officials did not elaborate about the details of the meeting, it was believed that the meeting was of great importance to bilateral ties, especially in military cooperation in the coming years.

Antony's visit to Washington, the first since he took the portfolio in 2005, followed a visit by his American counterpart Robert Gates to India late February, which witnessed US efforts to promote Indian oppositions' support for the civilian nuclear deal between the two countries.

The top Indian military official arrived at a time when the US-India civilian nuclear agreement is facing its last challenge – the approval of the US Congress after the "landmark deal" was given a green light by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

The United States and India reached an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation in March 2006, under which India will get access to US civil nuclear technology on condition that India is to separate nuclear facilities for civilian and military use and open its nuclear facilities for inspection.

The nuclear deal, considered a key part of US President George W. Bush's foreign policy legacy, is designed to solidify Washington's relationship with a fast-emerging economic power. However, the nuclear deal has met strong opposition in both India and the United States.

On August 1, the IAEA oked an inspection plan for India's declared civilian nuclear energy plants – 14 of 22 existing or planned reactors. Following the UN nuclear watchdog's action, the NSG, which controls the export and sale of nuclear technology worldwide, on Saturday approved a US proposal to lift its 34-year-old nuclear trade embargo on India.

Glaring contradictions

The Bush administration has been doing its utmost to realize the controversial US-India civilian nuclear deal. It argued that India is an important democracy and dismissed warnings that breaking the rules would ruin global efforts to stop the spread of atomic weapons and boost India's nuclear arsenal.

Under US laws, Congress must be in a session of 30 full days to consider the US-India nuclear deal. However, US lawmakers are scheduled to leave Washington at the end of the month to campaign for November elections that will determine Bush's successor and the political future of many current Congress members.

Rice, who is both hatcher and executor of President Bush's foreign policies, began to make an all-out effort to persuade Congress to approve the US-India nuclear deal.

It was reported that soon after the NSG oked the US plan to engage in atomic trade with India, Rice paid a relatively rare visit to Capitol Hill to call on House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, a California Democrat, and discuss how to win Congress' blessing before President Bush leaves office on January 20. For the same purpose, Rice also met on Tuesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

While legislators in Congress are pledging a careful review of the US-Indian nuclear deal, there is also a public voice against the pact. In its editorial entitled "A bad deal" on Tuesday, the leading US newspaper New York Times is opposed to the decision by the NSG to lift a nuclear trade embargo on India.

"The nuclear agreement was a bad idea from the start. Mr. Bush and his team were so eager for a foreign policy success that they gave away the store. They extracted no promise from India to stop producing bombmaking material. No promise not to expand its arsenal. And no promise not to resume nuclear testing," said the editorial.

The US State Department said Rice hoped to formally send Congress the deal at the end of the day. However, with the opposition Democrats in control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, it is predicted that Congress may not have enough days left to ratify the deal.

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2008)