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U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

QUESTION: Another subject, India? What's your reaction to Prime Minister's Vajpayee's speech yesterday on the nuclear question?

MR. RUBIN: On that subject, let me say that we have read it with interest. We welcome his reaffirmation of a commitment to a September '99 entry into force of the CTBT. There have been multiple rounds of discussion between us and the Indians, and we have made some progress. We are looking forward to continuing this dialogue in another round of talks in late January.

There are significant differences. We will be working to try to limit the differences and expand the areas of common ground. We want both India and Pakistan to meet the benchmark set forth by the international community.

It clearly is necessary in a democracy to build a base of parliamentary and public support for important actions, and we welcome the fact that Prime Minister Vajpayee is in the process of building a national consensus on no further nuclear testing and on India's adherence to the CTBT.

On the missile side, we've urged India and Pakistan to exercise the utmost restraint in further missile development, including flight testing. We will continue to do so.

With respect to the fissile material, the Prime Minister left the door open for multilateral initiatives on a moratorium on fissile material production. He also expressed willingness to work for the early conclusion of this fissile material cut-off treaty in Geneva. We are looking forward to continuing discussions on this subject in talks with the Indians.

With respect to suggestions that his statement is an implied commitment to deploy nuclear weapons, this is one of several statements we will explore in our next round of discussions. The Prime Minister has acknowledged our interest in better understanding India's positions. We will need to learn more about India's intentions before making a full assessment. It is our understanding that India has not deployed nuclear weapons. There is nothing in the Prime Minister's speech to indicate that India has deployed nuclear weapons, and we will continue to engage with the Indians on this issue.

QUESTION: You say you think that they've left the door open on fissile material. I gather that the reason why you say that is because even though he says it's not possible to take such steps, he qualifies it by saying "at this stage." Is that where the hope is?

MR. RUBIN: I'll have to leave it to the tea leaf readers to give you a direct answer of which words generate our view, but that's our view.

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