Expressindia.com
US hardsells India post N Korea nuke tests
Press Trust of India Posted online: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 1907 hours IST Updated: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 1913 hours IST
Washington, October 11: The United States, like its close ally Britain, has refused to draw a parallel between the nuclear programmes of North Korea and India and lauded New Delhi as a 'responsible actor' in the field of non-proliferation.
While differentiating North Korea's atomic programme from that of India and Pakistan, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack lauded New Delhi's nuclear track record.
In an apparent reference to concerns that North Korea's nuclear tests could impact the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, he said the accord was not only good for the two countries but also for the non-proliferation regime.
"I think that the characteristics of...this particular North Korean regime and the particular historical facts among those three different cases are quite different," he said, replying to a query whether North Korea could not look at the examples of India and Pakistan, wait out sanctions and hope to be accepted as a nuclear power.
"... looking at the nature of each of those three governments in those countries -- North Korea, India and Pakistan -- I think they are all quite different. In terms of India you have the world's largest multi-ethnic democracy. India has been a responsible actor in that regard. We have certainly made that judgment," McCormack said about India's non-proliferation record.
"In terms of Pakistan, you have a country that has made the strategic decision to ally itself with those who are promoting freedom and democracy around the world," he said.
McCormack refused to speculate on the thinking of the North Korean leadership, saying, "I can't tell you what their calculus is. It's relatively opaque."
McCormack said issues pertaining to Pakistan, India and North Korea will have to be looked at differently.
"And in terms of their particular programs, each has different historical pathways and I would note that North Korea was in fact a treaty signatory to the non-proliferation regime and it broke its commitments under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and I don't believe -- certainly not -- India was a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty."
He also argued that if North Korea were a democracy, it would not have been fine to go ahead with the nuclear test.
"No, I'm just...trying to draw some parallels here and I'm just trying to point out how all the cases were different," he said.
"The US has made it very clear that we are for the peaceful development of nuclear power. That is the deal that the vast majority of countries around the world have signed up to in the Non-Proliferation Treaty. With respect to India, we've made it very clear that we think that the deal that we have struck with India and now we are working with the Congress to pass is to the benefit of the US, to the benefit of India and to the benefit of the non-proliferation regime worldwide," he said.
About Pakistan, McCormack said, "We are working very closely with the government of Pakistan on a whole wide array of issues in terms of their situation, where they stand vis-a-vis the rest of the world in terms of freedom and democracy and fighting terrorism. So the nature of these regimes is entirely different.In terms of our fundamental stance with regard to the proliferation of nuclear technology, development of nuclear weapons, that certainly has not changed," he asserted.