The Hindu : India, China and the `London club'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 01, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

India, China and the `London club'

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI, FEB. 29. In a few weeks from now, the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) will admit China as a member and open a dialogue with India on non-proliferation. This differential treatment being offered to India and China will no doubt cause some heartburn in New Delhi.

India should have no objection to China becoming a member of the group of 40 nations that coordinate their policies on exporting nuclear materials and technology in order to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. India seeks an entry for itself and not deny it to others.

China had formally applied for the membership at the end of January. For sometime now there has been talk of the need for a conversation between India and the NSG, also called the London Club.

Entry into the NSG is based on two main criteria. One is the record on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and the other is the membership of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

On the first count, India will claim that its record on non-proliferation is far superior to that of many who swear by the NPT. India would also want to underline the fact that many European members of the NSG have either wantonly or through negligence facilitated nuclear weapons proliferation.

The extensive involvement of the European companies in spreading the nuclear goodies first to Pakistan and then to other countries has been glossed over in the recent focus on the activities of Abdul Qadeer Khan, self-proclaimed father of the Pakistani bomb.

The other criterion, signature on the NPT, is meaningless from India's point of view. At a time when it is being widely recognised that many members of the treaty — both nuclear and non-nuclear weapon states — have cheated on it, making membership of the NSG conditional on joining the NPT makes little sense.

To have Latvia and Slovenia as members but not India, whose capacity to export nuclear materials is substantive, shows how the London Club has moved from being a pragmatic gentlemen's agreement on non-proliferation to a bureaucratic organisation.

France and Russia have been arguing within the NSG, the importance of revising the rules to admit India. But there is obviously a lot of resistance. But dialogue might be the first step towards overcoming the opposition to India's membership of the NSG.

* * *

The Foreign Secretary, Shashank, has reasons to be happy that his quiet initiative in West Africa last year has taken off. This week Foreign Ministers from eight west African countries will sign up with India to form the so-called ``TEAM 9'' to promote economic cooperation. These are Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, and Senegal.

While Africa has generally been neglected in India's foreign policy over the decades, west Africa was virtually a blind spot in New Delhi. In the last few years India has begun to apply corrective measures. India's renewed engagement with west Africa is no longer built on political rhetoric but on the prospects for mutually beneficial commercial cooperation.

West African nations are looking for Indian transfer of intermediate technologies across a broad spectrum, skilled manpower and finance. India will, in return, gain stronger political links and access to rich markets.

Mr. Shashank was the first senior official to visit west Africa in years and was received with enthusiasm. In the past India got in touch with west African chancelleries only when it needed votes in international fora. Now India and west Africa are eager to get a move on.

* * *

Out of the eight west African countries now joining India, there will be special focus on Equatorial Guinea. For this tiny nation on the West Coast of Africa is now at the heart of a great oil boom.

The Gulf of Guinea is believed to have oil reserves amounting to 24 billion barrels, and could emerge as one the world's leading offshore production centres. The U.S. oil companies have head-start as they pour billions of dollars into the region.

Equatorial Guinea has given out scores of contracts for hydrocarbon prospecting and could emerge in the coming years as Africa's third largest oil producer after Nigeria and Angola.

For Washington, the oil lying across the Atlantic Ocean offers many advantages. Many African oil producers are not members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that is dominated by producers from the volatile west Asia. With much it offshore, West African oil is also insulated from internal turmoil.

* * *

India, which is looking to diversify its petroleum supplies, does not want to be left out of the race for oil in Africa that now holds eight per cent of world's crude reserves. After investing more than a billion dollars in Sudan, India is now turning its eyes to Angola.

It has been reported that ONGC Videsh, external arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, is trying acquire a stake of $2 billion in a major oil project off the Angolan coast. The Gulf of Guinea is not beneath India's radar screen.

But for now mum is the word as India elbows its way into the west African oil scene dominated by the United States.

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India, China and the `London club'