Now a China-India Nuclear Deal?!

Last Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed S. 3709, a bill to exempt India from certain requirements of U.S. nuclear nonproliferation and export law and, by so doing, pave the way for U.S.-India nuclear cooperation and trade. The Senate bill -- which passed in an 85-12-3 vote -- must now be conferenced with the House version of the bill, H.R. 5682. In addition, the U.S. and India governments must hammer out a so-called "Section 123" agreement; the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and India must conclude some sort of safeguards agreement; and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) must agree to exempt India from NSG export rules.

Now, one of the rationales behind U.S.-India nuclear cooperation has been that it would improve America and India's bilateral strategic partnership -- especially with respect to East Asia. (Read: Somehow help to contain China.) The Chinese government, however, has been moving to strike nuclear trade deals not only with India's strategic rival, Pakistan -- but also with India.

Writing from Beijing, the Boston Globe's Jehangir Pocha reports today:

On the Indian side, it was Mayankote Kelath Narayanan, [Prime Minister Manmohan] Singh's national security adviser, who brokered the deal, the official said.

One reason many Indian officials want a deal with China is that they believe it will restore some balance to India's foreign policy.

"Traditionally, India's always been nonaligned and had an independent foreign policy," said an official in New Delhi familiar with the negotiations. "Recently, India had been moving very close to the US and with this deal India will become equidistant between the US and China."

Remarkable, ain't it?

Update (November 21, 2006 @ 1:00 PM CT): The Indian government's Press Information Bureau just released today's Joint Declaration by the Republic of India and the People's Republic of China, and the Prime Minister's Statement at Press Interaction with the President of China, both of which briefly mention the concept of PRC-India nuclear cooperation.

Update (November 26, 2006 @ 10:15 PM CT): For some interesting context, see "Bush Has Delivered, What About Hu?," an article which C. Raja Mohan published in the Indian Express on November 18, 2006, a few days after the U.S. Senate passed S. 3709.

In addition, Siddharth Varadarajan -- a journalist who maintains a weblog called Reality, One Bite at a Time (by the way, the weblog's title refers to Tipoo's Tiger, a work of art at the Victoria and Albert Museum in Britain) -- published a news analysis titled "New Delhi, Beijing Talk Nuclear for the First Time" in The Hindu on November 22, 2006.

Posted by Robert at November 20, 2006 12:24 PM