To thwart Sino-Pak N-deal, India lobbies for NSG help

[Nahraf]

To thwart Sino-Pak N-deal, India lobbies for NSG help - India - The Times of India

To thwart Sino-Pak N-deal, India lobbies for NSG help
Sachin Parashar, TNN, Aug 27, 2010, 02.57am IST

NEW DELHI: As China prepares to implement its decision to build two more nuclear reactors for Pakistan, India is hoping that countries like Norway, Austria and New Zealand can succeed where pressure from even the US has failed.

In a last-ditch attempt to prevent the Chinese from going ahead with the deal, India has sought help through "back channels" from six small Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) countries, the main hold out nations against the waiver to India at the NSG two years ago.

Highly placed sources said India has asked these countries to take up the matter as Beijing seemed bent on going ahead with its decision to build more reactors grandfathering them to its agreement with Pakistan in the pre-2004 period.

"There is a specific plan to make them realise what is going on as they opposed nuclear commerce waiver for India right till the end in 2008. We want to see how they react now as China has completely ignored them in going ahead with its plan to supply fresh reactors to Pakistan," said a source, adding that New Delhi has information that China is about to start work for two pressurised water reactors in Chashma 3 and 4 stations.

The other three nations with which the same back channel discussions are on are Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Together, these six nations had held their own against the US and other major powers in denying waiver to India till the very end.

China, which became a member of NSG in 2004, has so far not bothered to officially inform the 46-member NSG about its plans for two more reactors in Pakistan. It recently signed an agreement with nuclear watchdog IAEA for nuclear safety and training in east Asia but there was no mention in it of its plans to build more reactors for Pakistan.

Sources said that India had conveyed its reservations over China's plan soon after it came out in the open before big NSG nations like the US and the UK. However, an official said, many of the smaller NSG members are seething from within over the manner in which China has acted, and tapping this resentment would provide momentum to overall opposition to Beijing's plans. Despite pressure from countries like the US, France, Russia and the UK to facilitate a clean waiver to India in 2008, these nations had stood their ground and almost spoiled New Delhi's party.

India is emphatically making the point that China cannot grandfather the reactors to the earlier 1991 deal because Beijing made no mention of it all these years, and that the announcement finally was made after India acquired waiver from NSG to carry out nuclear commerce. As per the NSG guidelines, NSG members can supply nuclear equipment only to countries which have signed Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty or which have agreed to international inspection of their nuclear facilities.

 

[Nahraf]

Why an India-Japan nuclear deal is essential: Rediff.com India News

Why an India-Japan nuclear deal is essential
August 27, 2010 14:28 IST

An India-Japan civil nuclear pact would be critical in signalling that they would like to build a partnership to bring stability to the region at a time when China is going all out to reward Pakistan with civilian nuclear reactors, says Harsh V Pant.

Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada was in Delhi [ Images ] recently for the fourth round of India-Japan strategic dialogue and made it clear that negotiations on civilian nuclear cooperation pact are going to be rather difficult.

There are indications that negotiations on the pact between Japan [ Images ] and India [ Images ] have stalled and it now looks unlikely that this pact would be signed during the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's [ Images ] visit to Japan in October as originally planned. India and Japan started discussions on the possibility of Japan signing a civil nuclear agreement with India in June. This was a significant move for Japan that has long been critical of Indian nuclear policy. Though India-Japan ties have blossomed in recent years on a whole range of issues, the nuclear issue has been a major irritant in the relationship.

The Indian nuclear tests of 1998 marked the lowest point in bilateral relations with Japan reacting strongly to the nuclearisation of the sub-continent. Tokyo suspended economic assistance for three years as well as put on hold all political exchanges between the two nations. Japan's economic measures against India included freezing of grant aid for new projects, suspension of yen loans, withdrawal of Tokyo as a venue for India Development Forum, a 'cautious examination' of loans to India by international financial institutions and imposition of strict control over technology transfers.

Japan took the lead in various international fora like the G-8 in condemning nuclear tests by India and Pakistan while the Japanese Diet (parliament) described the tests as constituting a threat to the very survival of human beings.

This strong reaction from Japan was in many ways understandable given that the Japanese are the only people to have experienced the brutality of nuclear weapons and that experience has continued to shape their world-view. Yet, many in India saw the Japanese reaction as hypocritical given that India's genuine security concerns were brushed aside even as Japan itself enjoyed the security guarantee of the US nuclear umbrella.

As many in India see it, Japan's commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, in many ways, remains predicated upon its reliance on American nuclear deterrence.

The US-India civilian nuclear energy cooperation pact has, however, changed the nuclear realities and Japan is trying to come to grips with India's new nuclear power status.

Though Japan has supported the US-India civilian nuclear energy cooperation treaty, there remain differences between Japan and India on the nuclear issue. Japan continues to insist that India sign the NPT and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty whereas India has no intention of doing so given its long-standing concerns regarding the discriminatory nature of these treaties.

Current Japanese law allows nuclear exports only to states that unlike India are either a party to the NPT or allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to safeguard all its nuclear facilities. If India decides to go in for more nuclear tests in the future, the Japanese government of the day would be forced to respond in a manner that may be inimical to India-Japan ties.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group approved the US-India nuclear pact in 2008 in which Japan went with the consensus that India's nuclear record warrants its support for the deal. There has been a gradual evolution in the Japanese approach towards the Indian nuclear capability. It refused to view the US-India nuclear pact as a danger to the global non-proliferation framework and was not an obstacle in the decision of the NSG to amend its guidelines enabling India to trade in nuclear technology and fuel.

But the Japanese government ruled out any civilian nuclear technology transfer to India, at least for the time being, as domestic sentiment in Japan remains strongly anti-nuclear.

Since securing NSG approval, India has signed civilian nuclear cooperation agreements with states as diverse as Britain, France [ Images ], Russia [ Images ], Kazakhstan, Namibia, Angola and most recently, Canada [ Images ]. Many in Japan argue that that it would be foolhardy for Japan not to be part of this larger trend. Given the involvement of Japanese firms in the US and French nuclear industry, an Indo-Japanese pact is essential if US and French civilian nuclear cooperation with India is to be realised.

Japanese approval is needed if GE-Hitachi and Toshiba-Westinghouse are to sell nuclear reactors to India. Given the benefits that Japanese nuclear industry will reap from such a deal, it should not be a surprise that Japanese Atomic Energy Agency and its ministry of economics, trade and industry have pulled out all stops in support of the deal.

But the anti-nuclear sentiment remains a powerful force in Japan and the Nagasaki declaration, issues on August 9 to mark the dropping of nuclear weapons on the city, specifically underlined Indo-Japanese negotiations on the nuclear pact. It berated the Japanese government for "promoting negotiations on a nuclear agreement with India, a non-NPT member country with nuclear weapons" and argued that Japan "is now severely weakening the NPT regime, which is beyond intolerable."

In light of this staunch opposition to the nuclear pact, the Japanese government has asked India to include the statement that Delhi made to assuage the concerns of the NSG members in Vienna [ Images ] in 2008 as part of the agreement. India's statement at the NSG meeting had basically re-affirmed India's no-first-use policy, committed India to work towards a successful completion of the Fissile Missile Cut-Off Treaty and strengthening of export-control policies to prevent the spread of sensitive technologies.

Despite Japanese demands, it is unlikely that India will agree to formalise these commitments and will insist that much like other states with which it had concluded similar nuclear pacts, the 123 agreement that it has signed with the US should form the basis of its pact with Tokyo.

The commercial dimension of the pact is certainly significant but much more important is the political symbolism accompanying the deal at a time when the rise of China is upending the regional and global balance of power. An India-Japan civil nuclear pact would be critical in signalling that they would like to build a partnership to bring stability to the region at a time when China is going all out to reward Pakistan with civilian nuclear reactors, putting the entire non-proliferation regime in jeopardy.

Tokyo and Delhi have a great opportunity to re-balance the strategic mile in Asia-Pacific and opportunities like this do not knock twice. Japan and India may very well decide to put things off until tomorrow but that tomorrow may never come.

 

[Patriot]

where pressure from even the US has failed.
-
Well then the deal will go through.Nothing except US Pressure can stop it and if China has successfully resisted US Pressure then there is nothing else.Anyway the deal will go through Indians member will keep saying there is no announcement and some years later we will find out that reactors have been built and are active (I like this approach of Chinese - Keep everything secret)

 

[FreekiN]

I still don't understand why Indians don't want us to have electricity. We already have nuclear weapons and if we wanted more, I don't think they would be Chinese versions which we already have.

 

[Nahraf]

I still don't understand why Indians don't want us to have electricity. We already have nuclear weapons and if we wanted more, I don't think they would be Chinese versions which we already have.

They want to have monopoly in civilian nuclear deals. They themselves did not sign CTBT and got exemption which has opened door for Pakistan. They are crying since they are special and rules don't apply to them. Well they opened the door and Pakistan will use this door to get its own civilian deals. It will take time but we will have nuclear power plants for energy needs.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

All nations have a right to peaceful nuclear energy.

I don't understand what the problem is. Pakistan already has nuclear weapons, what harm can it do, for them to build a nuclear power plant in order to provide domestic energy?

I really can't see why anyone would have a problem with this?

Also, the NSG is "non-binding" and therefore essentially irrelevant, all they can do is provide guidelines. There is no legal obligation to follow the guidelines at all.

 

[Nahraf]

I really can't see why anyone would have a problem with this?

India has 'special needs' that requires 'exemption' from rules and regulations. Nobody else can be exempted except them because they are so special !

 

[S_O_C_O_M]

Pakistan can wipe india off the map as Pakistan has MORE powerful nukes and MORE nukes than india.
India lags behind Pakistan in nuclear armoury: US expert - India - The Times of India

So what the problem with 2 nuclear reactors from China? So what if we are going to use these reactors to build more lightweight plutonium nukes in addition to using them for electricity, with these reactors or without these reactors Pakistan can destroy india...so no problem here.

 

[somebozo]

Indian nuclear deal was resisted by every country in NSG execp UK, USA and Russia and still it went through. Same applies for China-Pak deal. The indians make foolish decisions without factoring in common man. Indian resistance to Pak-China nuclear deal will be interpreted by a common man as "they want us to starve in load shedding" and hence fuels anti-india sentiments. Then they cry all about it on PDF. This also opens up indian mentality and its vision about peace. Its only common sense that stable Pakistan will hurt Indias share of FDI. Like all their cries these will also fall on deaf ears.

India has 'special needs' that requires 'exemption' from rules and regulations. Nobody else can be exempted except them because they are so special !

The only specials needs i can think of retardation of sovergenity and perfrencial white treatment against nuclear liablity. Seriously endia engages in politics of self degradation.

The bright side of India-anyone nuclear deal is severe limitation on nuclear resources for weaponary or millitary use, strict watch guards and very little liablity. Win win for any forigen investor. Bhopal has not been forgotten yet.

 

[Nahraf]

The only specials needs i can think of retardation of sovergenity and perfrencial

That's what I meant they have 'special needs' so instead of normal rules a ramp is created to give them 'exemption'. They are handicapped/retarded !

 

[Bhairava]

That's what I meant they have 'special needs' so instead of normal rules a ramp is created to give them 'exemption'. They are handicapped/retarded !

Actually what happened to the deal.? I mean in which phase it is.?


ps.: Could have done without the handicapped ,retarded terms etc.The world still thinks we are special otherwise we could not have signed nuke deals with almost 15 countries till now with the world agreeing to the fact that almost 8 reactors will be designated military reactors for producing nuke weapons.

 

[A.Muqeet khan]

Pakistan can wipe india off the map as Pakistan has MORE powerful nukes and MORE nukes than india.
India lags behind Pakistan in nuclear armoury: US expert - India - The Times of India

So what the problem with 2 nuclear reactors from China? So what if we are going to use these reactors to build more lightweight plutonium nukes in addition to using them for electricity, with these reactors or without these reactors Pakistan can destroy india...so no problem here.

u see the prob is india to can wipe us out in a single sweep so dont say statement that r liable to derial the thread and start the third world war thank you

 

[somebozo]

Actually what happened to the deal.? I mean in which phase it is.?


ps.: Could have done without the handicapped ,retarded terms etc.The world still thinks we are special otherwise we could not have signed nuke deals with almost 15 countries till now.

but remain jealous of Pak-China nuke deal???

Which is not coming to realization without nuclear liablity bill which severly limits damage control rights of Indian to few pesky millions. Even the smallest casuality in nuclear disaster runs up to billions...remember chernobyl?

And while their own deals are not realizing they are persuing a jealousy policy towards Pak-China! No forigen company has embarked even on initial paper work to build a reactor while Pak-China deal already has the necessary ground work done and foundations poured!

 

[Neither Right Nor Wrong]

Which is not coming to realization without nuclear liablity bill which severly limits damage control rights of Indian to few pesky millions. Even the smallest casuality in nuclear disaster runs up to billions...remember chernobyl?

These are big words ..tell me what nuclear liability are chinese agreeing on the nuclear reactors being supplied to Pakistan..or how much damages will chinese pay in case one of their reactor explodes??

 

[Bhairava]

Which is not coming to realization without nuclear liablity bill which severly limits damage control rights of Indian to few pesky millions. Even the smallest casuality in nuclear disaster runs up to billions...remember chernobyl?

Perfect example of ignorance.

The initial amount of about $ 350 Million has almost been tripled to about $ 1 billion in the latest,final bill passed in the Lok Sabha after the Left and the BJP protested and refused to support the bill initially.

The benefit of Democracy.

And FYI this is the amount the companies have to pay..Not the total compensation.The Govt will pay the rest.