Posted on 04/30/2004 11:02:53 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) -
The United States and India should jointly spearhead a global anti-nuclear proliferation campaign, US Senator Hillary Clinton (news - web sites) said as she launched a senate group to strengthen ties between the world's two largest democracies.
She said the offensive was crucial to stop North Korea (news - web sites) and other rogue states from using the nuclear card to terrorise the world.
"The nuclear issue is an issue for all of humanity and the US and India, as democracies, have to lead us into a new century of cooperation in order to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons," the Democratic senator from New York told reporters on Thursday at the launching of the US Senate India Caucus.
The bipartisan group, co-chaired by Clinton and Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas and comprising more than 30 senators, is dedicated to "expanding areas of agreement and candidly discussing issues of concern" between the United States and India.
Clinton said the threat posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction was among the "many serious issues" that faced both the United States and India aside from the war on terror, the security situation in South Asia and trade and investment.
She stressed that anti-proliferation efforts led by the United States and India should be expanded to include India's arch-rival Pakistan and key US ally Israel.
Both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons and this has made South Asia one of the world's most feared potential nuclear flashpoints.
Pakistan's nuclear program was recently linked to a proliferation network led by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, who has publicly confessed to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
"It is an imperative and urgent task that we must include not only India but our friends in Pakistan, Israel and any other nation that we believe is willing to work with us in order to prevent rogue states like North Korea from not only obtaining nuclear weaponry but having the potential to both intimidate others and use those weapons," Clinton said.
"I hope that we are going to have a new beginning about how to define an anti-proliferation agenda and that India and the United States can be the leaders of that," she said.
Clinton, who made her first trip to South Asia in 1995, helped set the stage for her husband Bill Clinton (news - web sites)'s visit to India in 2000, the first visit to India by a US president.
Her most recent visit to the region was in the fall of 2003 when she travelled to Pakistan and met with President Pervez Musharraf.
Senator Cornyn said the need for stronger US-Indian relations became apparent as global Cold War frictions eased and new, strategic alliances were formed.
"In this post Cold-War era, the United States and India must build upon a common tradition of democracy to contribute to regional and global security and prosperity," he said.
India is a leading trading and investment partner of the United States. There are an estimated two million Indian-Americans in the United States, including approximately 200,000 in Texas, President George Bush's homestate.
US Senator Hillary Clinton (news - web sites) (L), D-NY, listens as Indian Ambassador Lalit Mansingh (R) delivers remarks at the announcement of the first-ever US Senate caucus dedicated to relations between the United States and India at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.(AFP/Paul J. Richards)
This file photo dated 23 August 2002 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) will not enter into direct talks with North Korea (news - web sites) to end its nuclear drive, his spokesman said amid seemingly new enthusiasm by Pyongyang to end the standoff.(AFP/File/Alexander Nemenov)
Bush rejects direct dialogue with North Korea over nuclear question
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