Denver Post
Thursday, July 21, 2005

Editorial: U.S.-India, a work in progress

Indian Prime Minister Mamnohan Singh got a warm reception in Washington this week, a reflection of a dramatic improvement in relations between the United States and the world's largest democracy. That it could happen while Washington is cozying up to India's arch-rival, Pakistan, gives hope that one of the world's hot spots may be cooling down.

In their meetings, Singh and President Bush hailed bilateral agreements on trade, energy, the environment, military cooperation and the fight against AIDS.

Particularly significant is Bush's promise to help India develop civilian nuclear power without requiring that India sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It's refused to do that since detonating its first nuclear weapon in 1974. As a result, other nations, including the United States, banned exporting nuclear technology to India.

Unlike Pakistan, which detonated its first nukes in 1998, India does not export nuclear weapons technology.

The administration already has begun pitching the policy shift to Congress to lift U.S. bans on exporting conventional weapons and nuclear-power technology to India. It'll be an uphill climb: House members of the energy conference committee on Tuesday OK'd a measure to prevent selling nuclear technology to India.

Bush's outreach might have been unthinkable only a few years ago because of hostility between India and Pakistan, a U.S. ally in the war against terror. The neighbors have fought three wars in a half-century and have been on the brink again over disputed Kashmir. But tensions have eased due to courageous efforts by leaders of both countries.

Deepening commercial and political ties between India and the U.S. are far removed from the Cold War chill when India's first prime minister, Jawaharal Nehru, proclaimed India "non-aligned" but often fell in with the Soviet Union, alienating the United States.

Bush's overtures are viewed partly as a counterbalance to China's economic influence in Asia. India is rapidly industrializing with an economic growth rate of 6 percent to 7 percent a year. With 1 billion people, it's an attractive market for the United States.

"What I don't like about it, what I distrust about (the agreement)... is that it is bilateral rather than multilateral," said Tom Farer, dean of the University of Denver Graduate School of International Studies. Bilateralism, he said, is the wrong approach in an increasingly interconnected global system.

Ved Nanda, DU professor of international law, said it's "a very good sign" that "for the first time now, India and Pakistan aren't being spoken of in the same breath by the United States." Another positive, he said, is that the U.S. now feels it has common interests with India.