Kerry cautiously backs India-US nuclear deal

By Simon Denyer

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – United States Senator and leading
Democrat John Kerry gave cautious backing on Thursday to a
controversial deal granting India access to civilian nuclear
technology.

The landmark U.S.-India accord, agreed in principle last
July but still to be negotiated in detail, would grant New
Delhi access to nuclear technology it has been denied for three
decades, provided it separates its civilian and military
facilities.

But critics within the U.S. Congress and elsewhere say the
plan undermines global non-proliferation goals, and should be
tightened up.

Kerry, losing Democratic presidential candidate in 2004,
said he would support the deal “providing you are not
undermining the broader goal of non-proliferation itself.”

“In principle, it is better to have India as a participant
in the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Authority) procedures
and standards with respect to its civilian programme than not
to have it,” he told a news conference on a visit to New Delhi.

“And to have a majority portion of that programme under
those constraints reduces what is available to go into
military, so there is a step forward,” he said.

“But … we cannot only look at this agreement in its
bilateral context, it also has larger implications.”

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns is due in India
later this month to discuss India’s plan to separate its
civilian and nuclear facilities, and Kerry said Congress would
be looking closely at the fine print of the deal.

“What Congress will or won’t do is going to depend on what
the four corners of the agreement finally say when it is
arrived at,” he said.

For more than three decades, the United States led the
global fight to deny India access to nuclear technology because
it rejected the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and developed
nuclear weapons, testing them in 1974 and again in May 1998.

SHOW-STOPPER

But Bush, aiming to improve ties with the world’s largest
democracy, turned this approach on its head with last July’s
agreement.

He wants changes in U.S. law and in international
regulations, which would have to be approved not only by the
U.S. Congress but also by the 44-nation Nuclear Suppliers
Group, to allow India access to restricted items, including
nuclear fuel.

Critics say this would allow India to divert more fissile
material to its weapons programme, fuelling the arms race in
South Asia and undermining global non-proliferation efforts.

Kerry said these arguments would have to be looked at
closely.

“Are they show-stoppers?,” he asked. “We will have to see
how this thing is put together in the next few days.”