MANILA, July 25: The nine-member ASEAN group of nations today deplored the nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan and urged them to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the CTBT, saying that the tests ``exacerbated tension in the region and raised the spectre of a nuclear arms race''.However, the last-minute refusal of the ASEAN Ministerial Meet to name India and Pakistan in the joint communique issued today is being seen as a diplomatic triumph for New Delhi.According to highly-placed sources, the first ASEAN drafts in the wake of India's tests talked about ``condemnation'' and New Delhi's ``unconscionable'' behaviour. Today, that phraseology had been toned down to merely ``deploring'' the actions of both countries in the Indian sub-continent, indicating a victory for New Delhi's diplomacy.The Indian delegation, led by the Prime Minister's special envoy Jaswant Singh, seemed suitably exhilarated by the communique, especially since this is the first time since it went nuclear thatIndia will be a participant in the meeting of the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) as of tomorrow.The ongoing Meet in Manila is also notable for the fact that for the first time since India went nuclear and the relationship between New Delhi and Beijing nose-dived sharply, the Prime Minister's special emissary Jaswant Singh and Chinese foreign minister Tanj Jiaxuan will be meeting here on the evening of July 27.The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the ARF meeting that is expected to have a robust debate on India's nuclear tests. But if the AMM communique today is any indication, India is not likely to be stamped upon for daring to go nuclear.``ASEAN's core concern is to (attain) balance in this region. They've voiced their opinion about that,'' Singh told Indian journalists after the communique was released, adding, ``The direction of their anxiety is not really India. That is of some significance.''On the fact that the AMM had asked India to ``adhere'' to the NPT and the CTBT, Singh replied,``We can live with that.''Asked how he would describe the communique, he added, ``It is a very ASEAN statement. Their economies are weighing very heavily on their minds.''ASEAN's failure to directly condemn India and Pakistan in the communique, in fact, obviously seemed to have also come as a sharp surprise to journalists at the press conference at the end of the AMM. A few Japanese newsmen kept asking the chairman, Philippine foreign minister Domingo Siazon what had been ``the most difficult issue to manage'' at the conference.``The most difficult issue was the management of time,'' said Siazon, ``all the other issues you can talk about, but you cannot take back time.'' It wasn't lost on many that this was the same man, who two months ago at the senior officials meeting of the ARF here in Manila, had brusquely warned India that a ``condemnation'' of its nuclear behaviour was more than likely on the cards.The diplomatic triumph, then, is not so much about the fact that Indian has been let off thehook, but that there seems a genuine understanding of India's security concerns. The overwhelming presence of China, especially in the face of the economic melt-down, including that of Japan, as well as the unspoken fear about a possible condominium between Washington and Beijing seems to have swung the tide in India's favour.Singh will meet the Japanese deputy foreign minister Masahiko Koumura, since foreign minister and prime minister-elect Keizo obuchi is only coming here for a day on July 28.
