EXCERPTS
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 11, 1998
PRESS BRIEFING BY
MIKE MCCURRY
The Briefing Room
1:30 P.M. EDT
Q What is the President reaction to the nuclear tests
in India and how will he express that reaction?
MR. MCCURRY: The President is deeply distressed by the
announcement of three nuclear tests. He has authorized a formal
presentation of our displeasure to be made to the government in New
Delhi. While it was foreseen, given the electoral program of the
newly-elected party that they might take this step, it still flies in
the face of an international consensus about the need to promulgate
and nurture the new regime on a comprehensive test ban, and we will
certainly be sharing those thoughts and others with the new
government in India.
Q Will this jeopardize any presidential plans to go
to India?
MR. MCCURRY: It's impossible to speculate at this point
about what impact this might have on the President's future travel
plans.
Q Are sanctions being anticipated?
MR. MCCURRY: Sanctions are already anticipated when
non-nuclear member states violate the restrictions that exist, or the
consensus about those restrictions. There are certain unilateral
U.S. sanctions that may apply, and those are under study at this
point.
Q And what would those be?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm not fully aware. Apparently in law, I
believe there is a Glenn amendment that may be applicable, but we're
looking at that question now.
Q Are you saying the President might decide not to go
-- hasn't he already accepted an invitation?
MR. MCCURRY: He has and I'm declining to speculate on
whether this will have any impact on those plans.
Q Do you think that this heralds a new kind of
government in India, where they will be more belligerent and they're
preparing more of their arms for --
MR. MCCURRY: Well, there is a new government and that
new government made clear during the campaign how it wished to
approach the posture it would take with respect to nuclear matters.
But setting that aside, we think it still is a negative development
to see these tests publicly announced and undertaken by the
government. And for all the reasons that we are working hard to
promulgate the Comprehensive Test Ban, we would the governments would
refrain from expanding the use of fissile materials at a time when we
are trying to limit it.
Q Who is talking to them? Who is carrying the
message?
MR. MCCURRY: We'll have to check and see. I think
initially it was going to be communicated through Embassy New Delhi,
but we can get more on that. They were addressing some of that over
at the State Department as I came out here.
................
Q And also, has the United States spoken with India's
neighbors to ask them not to quickly respond to the actions --
MR. MCCURRY: Certainly we have had contact with the
government of Pakistan and urged restraint, yes.
Q On India again, was the administration caught off
guard by this underground test, or where there some imminent signs
this was about to happen?
MR. MCCURRY: It is my understanding we had no advance
notification that the tests would occur.
Q So was it a surprise?
MR. MCCURRY: I can't answer that without delving into
the kinds of information that we view and do not discuss here.
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