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Clinton ready for unconditional friendship with Vajpayee

The United States government wants to upgrade the level of the ongoing Washington-New Delhi dialogue, taking the whole exercise out of narrow, regional context.

George Pickard, the senior South Asian policy advisor in the US state department, presented this view at a meeting of the American Association of Physicians from India. He said his country visualised India as an emerging global power, which was why President Bill Clinton has decided to send a high-power delegation to New Delhi next month to establish contacts with the new Bharatiya Janata Party-led ministry.

Conscious of the anti-Hindutva feeling in the US, Pickard said, "We can work with the BJP government. Our approach is focused on a country and not on any particular government."

He said the new government had come through a democratic process and would be respected by the US. "We see some striking signals of continuity in its policy," he said.

America's permanent representative in the United Nations, Bill Richardson, accompanied by Under Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Karl F Inderfurth and National Security Council Director for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs Bruce Reidel will be in India by the middle of April.

Pickard made it a point to mention that Richardson is a member of the Clinton cabinet and that this had weighed with the president in deputing him as his personal envoy to India.

India, he said, was no longer a regional player. He said it was a 'dialogue member' of the ASEAN, a country with claim to a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, and referred to the critical role it has played in the international fora and its emerging economic power status.

Last year when Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering had discussions in New Delhi with Foreign Secretary K Raghunath, the exercise was described as a ''strategic dialogue.''

Pickard said Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave momentum to the process during her recent India visit. It would get a much needed fillip during Clinton's forthcoming visit. He would be the first American president to visit New Delhi after two decades. Jimmy Carter was the last one, way back in January 1978 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the external affairs minister.

Pickard also clarified that the US was no more keen on the reciprocity of its relations with India and Pakistan. It would develop relationship strictly on merit with New Delhi and Islamabad.

He said the US had no condition or any kind of quid pro quo attached to its engagement with India, and the latter should get rid of the thought, if it entertained any, that Washington had an eye on its market.

He, however, said the US was interested in seeing India open up its economy, allowing foreign investment as India and the US economic interaction is a win-win preposition. He referred to the recent increase in trade between the two countries.

"There is need to better appreciate our stakes in the region," he remarked.

The state department official made it clear the Clinton administration did not believe that India and Pakistan were at the verge of a nuclear war. Both were responsible nations, capable of sorting out their outstanding problems.

Pickard said India and the US differed on some issues, most important of which was the nuclear proliferation. "As the relation grows, we will be able to deal with such issues," he remarked, with an air of confidence.

American expert on South Asian affairs Selig Harrison said the new government's nuclear stance was bound to cause concern. He presented his solution to the problem, which he called a grand bargain.

It envisages India retaining its present non-weaponised deterrent, promising not to export nuclear technology and conduct a few tests if necessary with a promise to embrace the Test Ban Treaty. In return the US would provide nuclear technology for India's power sector.

Earlier, Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone drew attention to the concern raised in the US over the BJP's economic agenda which had a strong swadeshi thrust. The new government cannot afford to isolate India from the rest of the world if it wishes to hold true to its commitment of an economic growth rate of seven to eight per cent per year.

Pallone, who is the co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, said: "I will continue to work towards strengthening the India-US relations, addressing such issues as India's membership to the UN Security Council, terrorist activities in Punjab and Kashmir, China's transfer of nuclear technology to Pakistan and strong economic ties between India and the US."

UNI

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