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Progress in Indo-US talks setback to China

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The announcement today that India and the United States have made progress on non-proliferation issues and related security aspects follows the Indian delegation's reiteration of its no first-use of nuclear weapons policy and its agreement to evolve the necessary mechanism to avoid any proliferation of nuclear technology.

Making this assertion following this correspondent's queries, senior ministry of external affairs officials pointed out that this was the sum and substance of the progress made in the talks today in which External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott expressed optimism and extended the talks for another day.

They emphasised that these two vital points articulated by Singh to Talbott met more than half the US requirements. That apart, the Indian consent to participate in the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty also revolves around the US policy objectives of nuclear non-proliferation, they added.

However, the officials underscored that the only perplexing question is what India's minimum nuclear deterrence in absolute terms would be -- how many warheads would India like to manufacture for nuclear deterrence.

The officials pointed out that, during the Clinton-Vajpayee telephone conversation on Friday night, the prime minister explained to the US president that the existing warheads India could fabricate would provide the nuclear deterrence for the foreseeable future.

With this contention by Vajpayee, it was stressed Clinton appreciated the Indian position. Thereafter, the US president conveyed his greeting to the prime minister and congratulated India on Republic Day.

The Indian delegation's arguments, according to the MEA officials, finally convinced its US counterpart that India was not willing to enter in any nuclear arms race, China included. Therefore, the eighth round of the Jaswant-Talbott talks seems to have arrived at a broad framework of co-operation on the nuclear issue. However, the officials said the nitty-gritty regarding the framework are likely to be finalised by the two delegations.

The officials felt this understanding seems to have driven home three significant points.

First, the US accepts the Chinese threat to India and the oft-quoted Vajpayee letter to Clinton has been accepted by Washington in both letter and spirit.

Second, the Chinese "noises" among the P-5 countries at the UN Security Council has virtually been ignored by the US to arrive at this understanding.

Third, this development is likely to be perceived by the Chinese as a major setback to Sino-US relations, the officials felt.

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