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Fate of 123 agreement not to affect relations: U.S. official

NEW DELHI: In the face of opposition by the Left parties to the India-U.S. civil nuclear cooperation agreement, a senior U.S. official said bilateral defence and strategic partnership would continue to grow regardless of the fate of the pact.

“It is necessary to stress that linkages between the U.S. and India are not defined by the 123 agreement. The relationship is profound and has a number of different facets. We [at the Pentagon] don’t spend time thinking about the accord. We think in policy terms and it [the relationship] is growing by itself in answer to trends under way in other regions such as the emergence of other countries [on the world stage], changing trade relations and new security challenges,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Defence for South and South East Asia James Clad said here on Thursday.

Speaking at an interaction organised by the Observer Research Foundation, Mr. Clad denied that the U.S. had a master plan to lure India into its scheme of things for the region. “That are not the plans we have. Nothing can be further from the truth. The question is what are overlapping and converging set of interests both of us have. The idea that the U.S. would deal with India in a subservient relationship is laughable.”

Admitting that procurement of equipment prominently figured in the U.S. calculus on defence ties with India, Mr. Clad said the opposition to the buyer-seller relationship was from the current beneficiaries of the “static system.” Not only were U.S. defence platforms superior in quality, it was always advisable to diversify the source of supplies. However, the U.S. companies felt the direct offset clause in big ticket imports [part of the value to be sourced from India] increased the cost of the equipment. It was always advisable to spread the off-set obligations across sectors rather than restrict them to the defence sector as was the case with the current Indian defence procurement policy.

He felt India would be able to safeguard itself from the increasing Chinese prowess in ballistic missiles by joining the U.S.-led national missile defence (NMD) concept which promised a world-wide cover to Washington’s allies from potentially nuclear-tipped missiles. On the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), which permitted member-countries to skirt international law and interdict ships on international waters, he hoped India would come on board. In both cases, however, “it will be India’s decision not ours.”

A U.S. Embassy Political Councillor said Washington was concerned about India’s relationship with Iran though he admitted that some of the initial fears about its military ties were exaggerated. “Some training at the cadet level is going on. It is up to India to explain what is going on. I don’t think India is interested in the emergence of another nuclear power in Iran.”

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