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Rice Urges Congress To Support India Civil Nuclear Cooperation

05 April 2006

Congress considering legislation to allow U.S.-India nuclear trade

By David Shelby
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Congress April 5 to set aside historical impediments to nuclear trade between the United States and India and pass legislation that will open the door for civil nuclear energy cooperation.

“The decision upfront is whether or not to treat India as a so-called conforming state; in other words, whether to treat India as we treat others in civil nuclear cooperation, and we thought that this was the right discussion to have as a country up front, whether or not we wish to pursue this arrangement,” Rice told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed the civil nuclear cooperation agreement during Bush’s visit to India in early March.  The agreement would allow India to engage in international trade in nuclear materials to support the Indian civil nuclear power program. (See related article.)

As a first step toward civil nuclear cooperation, the Bush administration is asking Congress to adopt an India-specific amendment to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 that would allow India to be treated as a country in good standing with the international nuclear nonproliferation regime for the purposes of trade in nuclear technology and materials.

For decades, India has stood outside the nonproliferation regime because of its refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).  Only the five states that tested nuclear weapons prior to the 1968 opening of the NPT are allowed to possess them under the treaty.  India, which developed nuclear weapons during the 1970s, has not signed the treaty.

AGREEMENT REQUIRES CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL

In pursuing the U.S.-India nuclear agreement, the Bush administration next must negotiate a bilateral agreement with India governing the proposed nuclear trade.  This so-called 123 Agreement then would be submitted to Congress for approval. Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 establishes an agreement for cooperation as a prerequisite for significant nuclear cooperation with any nation. Currently, the United States has approximately 40 such agreements in effect; it had such an agreement with India from 1963 to 1993, according to a July 2005 report from the Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service.

If Congress refuses to modify the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the administration could move ahead with the agreement, but it would have to issue annual presidential waivers to India for the nuclear trade.  These waivers would have to be submitted to Congress for approval each year.

Rice told the senators that the waiver system would make the legal framework of the nuclear trade unpredictable and would undermine the private sector’s willingness to pursue this opportunity.

For this reason, Rice said, the administration is seeking a congressional commitment to this fundamental policy change as a first step.

“[W]e think that the proper sequence is that first of all, up front, Congress has the decision before it to approve the amendment to the act or not.  At that point, once the act is either amended or not, we would submit the 123 Agreement to Congress,” she said.

Rice sought to assuage the concerns of some senators that Congress is being asked to modify the legislation before India has negotiated its safeguard agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).  As part of the U.S.-India nuclear cooperation deal, India has agreed to place two-thirds of its nuclear facilities under IAEA supervision.

Rice said that the administration has pressed India to move ahead in its discussions with the IAEA and said the U.S. legislative changes could not take effect until the IAEA safeguards are in place.  She also said that India has expressed interest in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), which seeks to interdict the transfer of weapons of mass destruction and related technology to terrorists or states of proliferation concern.

“[W]e have asked them to deliberate it expeditiously, because we do believe that it would be a helpful signal to not just us but also to the Nuclear Suppliers Group and to other concerned states about nonproliferation,” she said.

If the Congress approves the legislative changes and the bilateral agreement, the administration will have to seek the approval of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which governs the global trade in nuclear materials.

PACT WOULD ENHANCE NONPROLIFERATION EFFORT, RICE SAYS

Rice sought to addresses various criticisms that have been raised to the administration’s plans in recent weeks.  She dismissed the argument that the deal should include a freeze on India’s nuclear arsenal, saying it is unrealistic to expect India would agree to that in the absence of agreements from other regional powers such as Pakistan and China. 

She said the civil nuclear cooperation agreement will have no impact on the NPT, but the agreement will bring India into closer cooperation with the nonproliferation regime.  Rice also dismissed the idea that the agreement would fuel an arms race in South Asia, saying that it in no way enhances India’s military capabilities. 

The secretary said the deal would not complicate international efforts to confront the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, saying that the behavior of those two states on nuclear issues is diametrically opposed to India’s behavior.

The civil nuclear cooperation deal would broaden the international nonproliferation regime despite India’s status as a nonsignatory of the NPT, she added.

“We have to recognize that the NPT is the cornerstone, but one part of a maturing nonproliferation framework in which we are also working to have rules of the game that the Nuclear Suppliers Group has on certain standards of behavior.  India is agreeing to adhere to those unilaterally. Through the Missile Control Technology Regime, which India is agreeing to adhere to unilaterally,” she said.

She said the nonproliferation regime also includes “making certain that those who signed the NPT and then violate it and disregard it are really the ones who come under punishment from the international system.”

In addition to strengthening the nonproliferation regime, Rice said the U.S.-India deal would enhance energy security and environmental protection by promoting a clean, renewable energy source and that it would reinforce a growing strategic and economic partnership between the two countries.

But she added, “in order to fully realize the potential of this vision for India, we do have to deal with the long-standing impediments associated with civil nuclear cooperation, and we need to resolve them once and for all.”

For additional information, see U.S.-India: Strengthening a Global Partnership.

The full text of Secretary Rice’s opening remarks is available on the State Department Web site.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)