Good sense from G-8

India has reason to heave a sigh of relief at the G-8 summit desisting from announcing combined sanctions against this country in the wake of its nuclear tests. Bite as the American, Japanese and some other countries8217; sanctions will, their effect would have been greatly compounded if all the G-8 countries had decided to join hands in imposing sanctions. It was reasonable to expect that France and Russia would refrain from showing undue self-righteousness about India8217;s tests. France has traditionally been associated with India8217;s nuclear programme. In any case it is well known to pursue a foreign policy independent of Washington and in tune with its own perception of national self-interest. And it has shown greater sensitivity, to the fact that it could scarcely knock India for conducting the tests when only two years ago it had itself done a series of tests in the run-up to the CTBT. Russia8217;s support, even though President Yeltsin denounced India8217;s tests, is to be attributed more to the fortuitous timing ofIndia8217;s tests. These have come at a time when Russia has obviously concluded that an unconditional association with the American-led western alliance is not to its advantage. India could probably not have counted on such Russian support four years ago. Above all the conciliatory stance of Britain, which traditionally supports US foreign-policy actions much more unequivocally, was no foregone conclusion. It is to be hoped now that the European Union will show similar restraint about India8217;s tests in its May 25 meeting. India8217;s economic ties to the EU are stronger than to America. Mercifully, there is reason for hope here as well. Britain, the current EU president, has shown itself not to be taking an excessively hard line. France is sympathetic, and Germany has said it will follow the EU8217;s lead, confining its action so far to freezing aid talks. So far the pattern of international reactions has followed the path anticipated by the government. That also means India8217;s assessment before the tests that it couldlive with sanctions has not been betrayed.

The G-8 summit has shown that a resolute standing up for its interests obliges the world to pay attention to its legitimate arguments: even Bill Clinton has conceded that America was wrong to neglect Indian concerns. And he has been forced to acknowledge the moral correctness of India8217;s position by emphasising his resolve to push START-II nuclear disarmament talks between Russia and America. The point is for India not to lose its resolve halfway through. The heat will henceforth be on for it to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty immediately and without conditions. It is to India8217;s advantage to sign this treaty eventually. But it could just as easily throw away what it has worked so hard to win by bending over backwards to please. It is right to offer to start talks on the CTBT. But it should not rush into it with ill-considered haste. Nor should it agree to sign as a non-nuclear power. This, absurdly, is what the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty would make itout to be. But India thankfully is not a signatory to the NPT and does not have to accept its definition of nuclear powers as those who arrived on the scene before 1968.