August 30, 2007
The US House of Representatives on July 26 passed the agreement between the United States and India on civilian nuclear energy cooperation by an overwhelming majority. For more than a month, the agreement has caused constantly setback. First, it was the Pakistani side said that the agreement could threaten the strategic stability of the South Asian region, therefore leading to friction between India and Pakistan once again. Then, India and the United States had disputes on the issue of nuclear tests. In answering Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh' s claim on "India' s rights to conduct nuclear test in the future" on the 13th at India lower house, the United States warned that if India conducted nuclear tests, it will terminate the implementation of its agreement with India on civilian nuclear energy cooperation. American' s tough stance "hurt" some people' s feeling in India and caused strong opposition. On August 20, Indian leftist forces issued a joint statement, calling on the government to stop promoting Indian-US nuclear agreement, or it will withdraw from the ruling coalition. But Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not compromise. On August 21, he noted that he would never stop promoting India-US nuclear agreement even if the left-wing threatens to "topple" the government. In fact, Singh is not the only one who has been persisting in the India-US nuclear agreement. "Times of India" recently published a poll result, which indicated that 93% of the Indian people support the agreement. Therefore, analysts believe that although the leftists worried that the agreement will deprive India of independence in its foreign policy and Singh' s government will encounter some resistance in promoting nuclear cooperation between India and the United States, the two will continue to advance the agreement.
People's Daily Online - Nuclear agreement and big power's dream
The reason is that, first of all, the agreement does boost India' s nuclear energy development. According to the agreement, both India and the United States will unfold nuclear energy cooperation in full swing and the United States will provide India with nuclear technology, installations and fuel, and help it establish a strategic reserve of nuclear energy. As a matter of fact, India is extremely short of energy. Electricity shortage has been a big problem that has plagued people' s normal life and sustainable economic development. The civilian nuclear power development will help India greatly ease the power shortage and provide guarantee to a steady economic development. The second reason, also a very important one, is that the US-Indian nuclear agreement has strong symbolic significance for India in achieving its dream of a powerful nation. Since India declared independence in 1947, it has always been determined to become a big power. Although there are still people questioning the possibility, India did make good achievement in the following 60 years. At present, India maintains a 9% economic growth annually. Meanwhile, Indian also attaches great importance to the involvement in the international community. In recent years, it introduced and implemented "Look-East" policy and joined most regional organizations in the East Asian region. India also sought to stretch its tentacles outside Asia and even actively chased after strategic cooperation some African countries. In fact, the purpose of the United States to sign civilian nuclear energy cooperation agreement with India is to enclose India into its global partners' camp, so as to balance the forces of Asia. This fits in exactly with India' s wishes. As a big country with rapid economic growth, India is keen on gaining greater influence in international affairs and playing a decisive role in the international arena. At this point, maybe it is not exaggerating to say that the India-US civilian nuclear energy agreement actually demonstrates its dream to become a big power. In addition, the United States has explicitly proposed in the agreement that it would not hamper or intervene in the development of India' s military nuclear plan, which will also help the country achieve its goals to be a nuclear power. By People' s Daily Online
People's Daily Online - Nuclear agreement and big power's dream (2)
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