US defended India after Germany said Indian nuke energy deal 'was not helpful' given that it came in the midst of talks on curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
NEW YORK: The US leapt to India’s defence after German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the Indian civil nuclear energy deal “was not helpful” given that it came in the midst of talks on curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “We would differ with anybody who tries to make any comparisons between the behaviour of Iran and the behaviour of India,” US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack told a press conference on Wednesday where the issue reared its head.
“At the end of the day, India has been a responsible member of the international community when it comes to issues of nonproliferation. Iran, on the other hand, has abrogated its treaty obligations not to seek to develop a nuclear weapon and continually lied to the international community about that,” he added.
According to reports, Steinmeier told the German daily Handelsblatt; “There is no question that in light of the continuing talks over the Iranian nuclear programme, the timing of the American-Indian agreement was not helpful.” However, the German minister said such agreements could draw countries like India into the fold of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“I am not so naive to think that India will sign the treaty in the next couple of years. But the fact that the country is putting a bigger part of its civilian nuclear plants under international control is definitely a step forward,” said Steinmeier, ahead of a meeting in Berlin on Thursday of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany to discuss the Iranian nuclear programme.
Last week, two senior US officials tried to persuade the world’s technology providers to back the Indian nuclear deal in a meeting in Vienna with mixed results. Germany is a key player in the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which along with the divided US Congress, must approve the India-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement for it to be implemented.
In addition to Germany, the other heavyweights in the NSG include Russia, China, France, Britain, Sweden, Australia and Canada. Russia, Britain and France have come out in strong support for the US deal with India. Australian PM John Howard has said that he too supports the deal, and is sending officials to New Delhi to find out more, but Australia which has 40 per cent of the world’s uranium reserves is not considering changing its strict uranium trade policy.
China backs India
PTI
SYDNEY: China on Thursday supported India’s cooperation with other countries for nuclear power generation but said that non-proliferation protocols should be followed.
“India is a friendly neighbour of China, which approves India cooperating with other countries in nuclear power generation,” Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said.
Wen also said that relevant parties — including, by implication, Australia —should honour their obligations under the NPT, which limits uranium sales to other signatories.
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