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Journalism of Courage
India’s nuclear tests in 1998 had angered then US President Bill Clinton, leading him to personally suggest to his Russian counterpart Boris Yeltsin that the two of them and China should jointly pressure India on the nuclear issue.
However, both leaders were dissuaded by advisers from carrying out the proposal, who pointed out that China might regard it as a ‘‘harebrained idea’’, former US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott says in his forthcoming book Engaging India – Diplomacy, Democracy and The Bomb.
Talbott also disclosed that a Security Council resolution drafted by the Chinese was so anti-Indian that the Americans wanted it changed but it was too late as the Americans had been negligent at the drafting stage.
Giving details on Clinton’s proposal to Yeltsin to control India on the nuclear issue, Talbott described that the American President told his Russian counterpart that ‘‘I think India has made a terrible mistake’’. ‘‘But I also think India should get credit for fifty years of democracy. The ruling party there seems particularly to feel that earning the full respect of the world depends on India being a nuclear power.’’ Clinton then suggested that he and Yeltsin coordinate their approaches, since both were planning trips to New Delhi in the fall.
Yeltsin, who always welcomed demonstrations that the United States and Russia were joining forces to solve the world’s most daunting problems, eagerly assented.
