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Positive relations between India, China and US can only bring world peace: Celeste

American Ambassador to India Richard Celeste believes there is no need for any third party mediation between India and Pakistan. ''Friendship cannot be imposed from outside and can only to be nurtured from inside,'' said Celeste in a Doordarshan interview.

The ambassador said it was hard to imagine that the world in 2020 or 2030 ''would be peaceful and prosperous if there are no positive relations between India, China and the United States.''

Celeste reiterated that the US was not prepared to recognise India as a nuclear weapon state under the terms of the Non Proliferation Treaty. The issue was whether there was a way for the United Nations to recognise India's security needs, and minimise requirements to address those needs within the context of the proliferation treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

He, however, said there were future possibilities of understanding between the two countries in missile and nuclear technology. He hoped to see a day when there would no limits of co-operation between the scientists of the two countries.

In the programme titled New Delhi to Washington, Celeste said the United States wanted India to emerge as a major player on the global stage.

''If one looks to Central Asia and beyond, and the freedom of navigation through the Indian Ocean, India has a vital role and hopefully we can find a way for India and the United States to find a role in partnership,'' said Celeste.

Referring to the talks between US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's special envoy Jaswant Singh, he said the challenge in the talks was to ''try and find a way to harmonise on long term interests (of the two countries).''

Even though the discussions were not easy with serious concerns on both sides, he believed "these discussions could take the two countries towards stronger relations.''

On whether Sino-US relations would come in the way of Indo-US ties, he said the US wanted China to be good friends with both India and US. It was difficult to foresee the world without a positive relationship between the three countries.

UNI

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