Hindu Gods Spike Chinese Dragon

[suchandra]

Looks rather the same what Israel also did, not to sign any contracts concerning nuclear agreement.

 

<!-- Main Section --> Hindu gods spike Chinese dragon

By M K Bhadrakumar

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JI09Df02.html

posted Sept 9 2008

 

India's National Security Advisor M K Narayanan made an astounding claim in a television interview on Saturday that "divine intervention" might have secured for the country a "waiver" from the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG). The "waiver" allows India to have global nuclear commerce without formally signing either the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) nor the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and paves the way for the US Congress to ratify a potentially lucrative civilian nuclear deal with India.

 

The NSG "adjusted its guidelines" for India on Saturday. Narayanan was reacting to the news. He then went on to launch a tirade against China, alleging Beijing tried to spoil India's party at Vienna. He said India was taken by surprise by the Chinese doublespeak since Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao had assured the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Beijing would play a constructive role when the issue of the "waiver" for India came up for consideration in Vienna.

 

He lamented India's misfortune to have countries like China as neighbors. "We cannot choose our neighbors. We have China and Pakistan as neighbors and with both of them we desire to have the best of relations," he said. Narayanan added, "The Chinese foreign minister will come here and we will, of course, express disappointment. We will say that we did not expect this from China." (Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi was due to arrive in Delhi on Monday.)

 

The timing of the broadside is intriguing. It stands to reason that Yang's visit would have provided a splendid opportunity for Delhi to do some plain-speaking with the Chinese one-to-one. India's veteran External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee could have ably done that. Yet Delhi chose to go ballistic. Curiously, Mukherjee took the first opportunity on Sunday to somewhat moderate his colleague's savage attack on the Chinese, but without quite disowning him. When asked about China's stance at the NSG, Mukherjee told reporters, "I don't want to comment on what role was played by which country at the NSG. This is their internal matter. Every sovereign country has its right to express its own sovereign will."

 

A spate of Indian media reports have since appeared based on government "leaks", thumb-sketching behind-the-scene efforts by Chinese diplomats to somehow scuttle a NSG consensus decision on Saturday. Any delay in Vienna would have been lethal. It would have thwarted the efforts by the US to pilot the NSG "waiver" and the US-India civil nuclear cooperation agreement to the Capitol Hill on Monday. A tight schedule lies ahead to obtain the approval from the US Congress before September 28 when its session ends.

 

It remains unclear where it was that the Indian special envoys sent to Vienna to canvass for the waiver were rubbed so badly by the Chinese diplomats. Actually, Beijing had never hidden its unhappiness over the presumptuous fashion in which the US first erected the NSG to punish India for its nuclear explosion in 1974 and then shepherded the world community to isolate the Indians. Now, the US has unilaterally decided otherwise and sought to amend the rules so as to accommodate Delhi. As recently as last Monday, the People's Daily lambasted Washington in no uncertain terms for its "multiple standards" and inconsistencies apropos of the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

 

Full article: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JI09Df02.html