New US partnership with India is in our (Australia's) interests

The Australian ^ | 2nd Nov., 2006 | The Australian

[CarrotAndStick]

It is important that China's influence in Asia should be balanced, and that a democratic model of development is seen to work for big, poor countries, writes foreign editor Greg Sheridan.

THE mid-term congressional elections in the US next Tuesday will have foreign policy consequences far beyond Iraq. Outside of Iraq, nothing the Bush administration has done is more important than the strategic relationship it is building with India. It is the equivalent of Richard Nixon's opening to China 30 years ago. Earlier this year, George W. Bush, and India's redoubtable Prime Minister Manmohan Singh concluded a nuclear co-operation deal that is at the heart of this new relationship. It's a revolutionary deal. India has never been part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but in 1974, and again in 1998, tested nuclear devices. At first the Americans, under Bill Clinton, led the charge against the Indians, saying their plan was to cap, roll back and eliminate India's nuclear weapons capability.

However, given that India's giant neighbour to the east, China, and its paranoid neighbour to the west, Pakistan, have nuclear arsenals, there was never the remotest possibility that any government in Delhi would agree to this.

Moreover, as John Howard has frequently pointed out, India has an impeccable record of never having proliferated nuclear technology to anyone else. That cannot be said of Pakistan or China.

[pickrell]

That is a very important post. I hope it doesn't get lost in the noise of the elections.

Good job.

[Arjun]

Excellent post! Its about time the Aussies realized the importance of a rising India and the benefits it will bring to all of Asia if not the world.