Bush OKs extending nuclear help to India

WASHINGTON – President Bush signed legislation on Monday to let America share its nuclear know-how and fuel with India even though New Delhi refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

“By helping India expand its use of safe nuclear energy, this bill lays the foundation for a new strategic partnership between our two nations that will help ease India’s demands for fossil fuels and ease pressure on global markets,” Bush said in a bill-signing ceremony at the White House.

The bill carves out an exemption in U.S. law to allow civilian nuclear trade with India in exchange for Indian safeguards and inspections at its 14 civilian nuclear plants. Eight military plants, however, would remain off-limits to the inspections.

The House and Senate had overwhelmingly approved the nuclear cooperation bill, giving Bush a foreign policy victory at a time when the administration is struggling to come up with a new approach to the unpopular war in Iraq.

Critics worry the agreement could spark a nuclear arms race in Asia by boosting India’s atomic arsenal. They also argue that the measure undermines international efforts to prevent states like Iran and North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The White House said it was willing to make an exception for India, the world’s largest democracy, because it had protected its nuclear technology and not been a proliferator.

“India has conducted its civilian nuclear energy program in a safe and responsible way for decades,” Bush said. “Now, in return for access to American technology, India has agreed to open its civilian nuclear power program to international inspection.”

The administration also argued it was a good deal because while India’s military plants that work with nuclear material would not be subjected to inspections, there would be international oversight for the civilian program, which has been secret since India entered the nuclear age in 1974.

The Bush administration said the pact was not designed as a counterweight to the rising power of China. “We don’t have a policy that would build up a relationship with India to contain China,” Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters before the bill signing.

In New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh defended the nuclear deal, rejecting strong opposition from critics that it would lead to the dismantling of India’s atomic weapons.