The United States and India were bargaining over the terms of a
landmark nuclear agreement even as US President George W. Bush flew
to New Delhi for the first visit there of his presidency.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said sticking points
remained in the way of an agreement and singled out one
particularly contentious subject.
"The one thing that is absolutely necessary is that any
agreement would assure that once India has decided to put a reactor
under safeguard that it remain permanently under safeguard," she
said.
Rice and national security adviser Stephen Hadley briefed
reporters on Air Force One as Bush flew from Washington. He was due
to arrive in India Wednesday night.
The provision Rice cited would prevent India from transferring a
reactor from civilian to military status, thus exempting it from
international inspections.
Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed an agreement in
July that would provide India with nuclear fuel for the country's
booming but energy-starved economy. The pact, which faces political
opposition in both countries, hinges on determining how to separate
India's civilian and military nuclear facilities.
Rice said she was uncertain whether there would be an agreement
during Bush's trip but said the success or failure of his visit
wouldn't be determined by that. "We're still working on it," she
said. "Obviously it would be an important breakthrough" for the
United States and India.
"We very much would like to have a deal," she said. "We are
continuing to work on it." She expressed confidence that if no deal
results from this trip, the US and would get one later.
During a refueling stop in Shannon, Bush shook hands and posed
for pictures with US Marines on their way to Kuwait. The young men,
in camouflage uniforms, lined up to shake hands with the commander
in chief.
Rice said India's neighbor and nuclear rival, Pakistan, would
not qualify for the same sort of nuclear treatment as New Delhi.
"Pakistan is not in the same place as India," Rice said. "I think
everybody understands that."
The United States says India has an unblemished record on
nuclear proliferation and has not sold its technology to any
outsiders. Pakistan, on the other hand, has acknowledged it has
secretly sold nuclear technology to a number of countries.
(Chinadaily.com via agencies March 1, 2006)
