China, Britain and France support India’s civil nuclear aspirations; Burns to resign, might be appointed as Special Envoy to nuclear deal; Karat: Nuclear agreement will not go forward; Australia reverses decision to sell uranium to India, remains undeci
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Whatsapp
  • Linkedin
  • Print
  • The week threw up some positives and negatives on the Indo-US nuclear agreement front. China supported India’s civil nuclear aspirations and also agreed to promote bilateral cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear technology1. There are indications also that China might support India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) when the Indian case comes up for discussion2.

    The new Australian Labour Government has reversed the decision taken during John Howard’s administration to sell uranium to India. Explaining the decision, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith stated that it was “a long standing commitment of the Australian Labor Party” not to authorise the export of uranium to countries who were not parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT)3.” However, the Australian government has made it clear that this decision did not necessarily mean that Australia would oppose the Indo-US nuclear deal at the NSG4.

    In other news, it was reported that Nicholas Burns, the US Undersecretary for Political Affairs would resign from the US foreign service and join the private sector. Reports noted that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might appoint him as a Special Envoy to deal with the nuclear issue5.

    Releasing the draft political resolution for the upcoming 19th party congress of the CPI (M), Prakash Karat reiterated that the Left parties would oppose any move to take the agreement forward. He noted that once the draft India-IAEA safeguards agreement was brought back to the UPA-Left committee, the committee would decide about it but it was not going beyond it6.

    The Indo-US nuclear deal found another supporter in the form of the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. At the end of the Brown’s recent visit to New Delhi, the two countries released a joint statement which stated that “the U.K. supports the India-U.S. civil nuclear co-operation initiative with all its elements, including an appropriate India specific exemption to the Nuclear Suppliers Group guidelines7.” Britain was also interested in having civil nuclear cooperation with India. However, any such cooperation would have to wait till the finalisation of the India-IAEA safeguards agreement as well as the modification of the NSG Guidelines8.

    Meanwhile, the upcoming visit of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy to New Delhi will in all probability be a positive development for the Indo-US nuclear deal. Reports indicated that the French President would build on the Indo-French 2005 joint statement. India and France have also successfully negotiated an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation. However, the agreement would not be signed during the current visit as the safeguards agreement as well as the NSG guidelines are still to be formalised9.

    Top