U.S. Relations With the People's Republic of China (2006)

U.S. Department of State

Interview With CNN Correspondent Satinder Bindra

R. Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs
Roosevelt House
New Delhi, India
December 8, 2006

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CNN: Literally for India but there would be concerns in the neighborhood; how is Pakistan going to react, and there has been talk in many circles that China would see this as directed against its rising power.

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: I think that this is going to be seen as an act that gives India its due. India is a global power. India has been a responsible steward of nuclear technology and it has never been a country that has proliferated. India deserves this. And has earned this distinction to be treated by the rest of the world as a responsible player. This should not present a threat to any one in the region. We, you know very well, we have a very, very good relationship with Pakistan. But it is different than our relationship with India. The two countries are different. The economic and political basis of our relations with India differs from our relationship with Pakistan, so I think its time in South Asia that we all not see relations between Delhi and Islamabad as zero sum game, and when President Bush was here several months ago he visited Delhi and then he visited Islamabad and had quite different conversations because our interests were different is in both places.

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CNN: You want India to work closely with you and, as you put it in your own words, to try to stop Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Now, many in India would view this as directly impacting on the sovereignty of India. There are going to be concerns here in India. How would you like to respond to those concerns?

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: I would say very directly that India is a very sovereign country. It's a great country and a great power. There is nothing in this legislation in the United States that is going to subvert India's right to make it's own decisions about the future of its country. But here's what the legislation does, I think, speak to: the very promising fact that India and the United States, while we have different relations with the Iranian government, have come together, with China and Russia and the European powers and Japan and Brazil, to all say to the Iranians, "we don't want you to develop nuclear weapons systems because, frankly, we don't trust you with nuclear weapons." And, so, on that very important question, India and the United States are together. I think that has been reassuring to the United States Congress, and I think it should reassure the Indian population. This is not an attempt, this bill by the United States Congress, to subvert sovereignty. I think it unifies the two countries.

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CNN: Ambassador, can I just jump in where Mr. Bindra left off? Ambassador, specifically on the access to reprocessing technologies and enrichment, heavy water production, etc, you did make the point that none of these were available to other countries. My question is in the bill. You do talk about certain conditions under which these might be made available. Could you elaborate on those conditions?

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: Yes, if India were to join this revolutionary new group called GNEP, where we are experimenting with the most modern designs of nuclear facilities, then it might be possible for us to engage in commerce on this. So that is an incentive, frankly, for both of us. We would like India to be a part of this very small group that includes Russia, China, France, Japan, and Britain. We would like India to be among the cutting edge of research, and if it does join this group, then it is possible we might be able to go further in that area.

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Released on December 18, 2006