Cong. against antagonising China on NMD

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI, MAY 7. Pointing to the negative impact of Sino-U.S. tensions on India's security environment, the Congress today cautioned the Government against lending uncritical support to the U.S. plans to build national missile defences.

In drawing attention to the long term implications of India drawing too close to the U.S. on NMD, the Congress may be reflecting some of the unease in a section of the Indian strategic community at the future of Sino-Indian relations.

The Congress believes India must strive to improve its relations with the U.S.; but the party insists the Government should do nothing to queer the pitch for Sino-Indian relations, which have been normalised with some difficulty after overcoming the chill of May 1998 when India conducted nuclear tests.

If India begins to align itself with the U.S. on global security issues, there is some concern here that China may embrace Pakistan even more tightly than before.

When the Chinese Prime Minister Mr. Zhu Rongji begins his travels through the sub-continent later this week, some indications might emerge on how Beijing and Islamabad view India's enthusiastic response to the NMD.

Mr. K. Natwar Singh, who chairs the Congress' foreign affairs department, today called on the Government to ``convince us that U.S. President George Bush's new nuclear and missile doctrine is in the interest of the country''.

``If a national consensus emerges in favour of NMD'', Mr. Singh added, ``the Congress will not stand in the way''. He accused the Government of not consulting either its allies or opposition parties in its ``unseemly rush'' to welcome the U.S. plans.

Mr. Singh, along with his colleague Mr. Jairam Ramesh, who runs the party's economic cell, was expanding on the Congress critique of the Government's response to the NMD at a press conference here today.

The Congress' decision to underscore the implications for India' relations with China may be of some significance. Mr. Ramesh insisted that ``India should not fall into the trap of believing it would gain from a Sino-U.S. conflict in Asia''.

Mr. Ramesh demanded that India look at the relations with China from its own perspective and not from that of the U.S. It is widely believed that the U.S. plans for NMD are directed against China, and this could further strain Sino-U.S. relations in the coming years.

Mr. Ramesh also pointed to some economic implications of the unfolding tensions between U.S. and China. He said the Bush administration might now seek to delay China's entry into the World Trade Organisation. ``This might hurt India more than the U.S.''. He was referring to the reality that Beijing and New Delhi were competitors in trade and target the same markets. Left outside WTO, according to Mr. Ramesh, China will be under less of a compulsion to abide by any rules.

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