U.S. Must Strive For Balanced Relations With Asian Powers

Our developing relationship with India could create a range of unintended consequences. Last June Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld signed a 10-year military cooperation agreement with New Delhi, pledging joint efforts in the areas of weapons production and missile defense. This was followed in July by a nuclear technology agreement which commits the United States to export nuclear technology and equipment to India. Such exports require changing a U.S. law prohibiting nuclear cooperation with states that are not party to the International Nonproliferation Treaty. The Bush administration has asked Congress to make this change so that the arrangement with India, which does not subscribe to the treaty, can go forward. If Congress complies, this would undermine U.S. credibility in dealing with Iran and North Korea on nuclear issues and potentially scuttle U.S. commitment to the Nonproliferation Treaty itself. A wiser alternative would be to insist that New Delhi become a party to the treaty in order for nuclear cooperation to go forward. Gwynne Dyer, writing in Canada’s Walrus magazine, suggests that Beijing sees our overtures toward India as part of a strategy to encircle and contain China. China’s relations with India, though more cordial in recent years, have a long history of antagonism over a number of issues. While improving our ties with India is entirely appropriate, it may not be in our long-term interest to risk increasing tensions between these two major Asian states. http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051204/OPINION03/51202019/1006&template=printart

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