Politics

Secretary Of State Rice Heads To India

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel Friday to India to commemorate approval of a landmark U.S.-India nuclear cooperation accord, a foreign affairs victory for President Bush's final months in office.

The Senate voted 86-13 Wednesday to overturn a three-decade ban on atomic trade with India, giving congressional approval to a pact that allows American businesses to begin selling nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to India in exchange for safeguards and U.N. inspections at India's civilian, but not military, nuclear plants.

Spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters at the State Department that Rice will be in India Friday through Sunday and will meet with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders. She was also to travel to Kazakhstan.

The accord, which the House of Representatives approved last week, marks a major shift in U.S. policy toward nuclear-armed India after decades of mutual wariness.

Bush, who must still sign the accord into law, said it "will strengthen our global nuclear nonproliferation efforts, protect the environment, create jobs and assist India in meeting its growing energy needs in a responsible manner."
Rice said in a statement that the deal "reflects the transformation of our relations and a recognition of India's emergence on the global stage."
In India, the governing Congress party spokesman Veerappa Moily called the deal "a monumental achievement."

Congressional approval caps an aggressive three-year diplomatic and political push by the Bush administration, which portrays the pact as the cornerstone of new ties with a democratic Asian power that has long maintained what administration officials consider a responsible nuclear program. Administration officials have also championed the opportunities for U.S. firms to do business in India's multibillion-dollar nuclear market.
Opponents say lawmakers, eager to leave Washington to campaign for November elections, rushed consideration of a complicated deal that could spark a nuclear arms race in Asia. The extra fuel the measure provides, they say, could boost India's nuclear bomb stockpile by freeing up its domestic fuel for weapons.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said during debate on the Senate floor that the accord "will almost certainly expand the production of nuclear weapons by India" and help dismantle the architecture of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the global agreement that provides civilian nuclear trade in exchange for a pledge from nations not to pursue nuclear weapons.

India built its bombs outside the NPT, which it refuses to sign. It has faced a nuclear trade ban since its first atomic test in 1974; its most recent nuclear test blast was in 1998.

Bush and Singh announced their intention to pursue nuclear cooperation in July 2005. U.S. lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the deal in a conditional form in late 2006. It then overcame strong political opposition in India, where critics threatened to bring down Singh's government, denouncing the accord as a ploy to make India Washington's pawn.
In India, opposition and communist parties critical of the deal said India has forfeited its right to hold future nuclear tests.

"The deal has been done at the cost of the country's sovereignty and nuclear independence," Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

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