The Hindu : National : Democrats want to seal nuclear deal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 21, 2007
ePaper

National

National

Democrats want to seal nuclear deal

Special Correspondent

Steinberg stresses on dialogue

India, U.S. should draw up a blueprint to engage China
Terrorism a real threat for India because of its location

NEW DELHI: The Democrats will continue efforts to conclude the U.S.-India nuclear deal and are willing to work together towards the larger cause of global disarmament.

This was stated by James Steinberg, Dean, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Austin at a session on ‘Strategic Choices for the United States in the 2008 Election and their implication for U.S.-India Relations’ organised by The Aspen Institute India here on Thursday.

On the emergence of China as a global power, Mr. Steinberg said India and the U.S. should draw up a blueprint to engage China rather than try to contain it. Some Americans felt that the democratic structure and open economic policies of India had made India’s rise more acceptable compared to that of China, he said.

On the political change in the U.S., he said: “It is important to have a sustained dialogue to build trust and confidence as part of stronger India-U.S. relations. We are on the verge of decision time in the U.S. It is a very significant election as foreign policy and national security issues will play a major role in the selection of a presidential candidate.”

He, however, said the Middle East would feature more prominently in the election rather than Asia.

The future relationship with India would depend on its inclusion in major policy decisions for the region as well as global issues, said Mr. Steinberg even as he observed that the U.S. was not going to play a major role on the Kashmir issue. There had been a paradigm shift in the thought process of both Democrats and Republicans regarding the U.S. relationship with Pakistan.

Coming to outsourcing, he said efforts would be more towards social safety and not outsourcing.

He said terrorism was a real threat for India because of its location. “India will lose much more in the conflict for being a multi-cultural state. Focussing on terrorism has narrowed the global policy of the U.S., especially on Asia,” he said.

Mr. Steinberg highlighted the growing importance of India in the WTO negotiations and as a growing economic power it had much more to offer to the stability of the global order.

Commenting on the global policies of the U.S., he said, “the failure to extend the economic benefits of globalisation has resulted in regional and ethnic conflicts.”

“In pursuit of a solution in Iraq, we have created more problems and therefore with Iran and other countries we have to work out the choices and tools that think about longterm strategy,” he said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National

News Update

Stories in this Section