3-22-06, 10:30 am
The Congress-led Government of India 'has by this strategic alliance with the US eroded India's independent foreign policy and severely restricted its strategic autonomy', said Prakash Karat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). (See page 6.) Behind these moves is the anti-China agenda of the US and Australian Governments.
Commenting on Rice's visit in the Australian Financial Review, journalist Geoffrey Barker says: 'During her Australian visit Dr Rice has stressed the importance of boosting India's energy supplies to assist its economic development and enable it to balance the growing economic and military power of China. The Howard Government appears to share her view.'
Bush's recent visit to India, during which the US-India deal was signed up, was followed immediately by Howard, who is well aware of the US plans and supports them to the hilt despite some remarks about friendship with China.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer claimed, for example, that China should not feel that the US, Japan and Australia were ganging up against it in 'an act of conspiracy'. But this is exactly what they are doing.
These soothing words coming from Downer are due to the fact that China has become a major importer of Australian energy resources and iron-ore and Australia's economy owes its present prosperity in no small measure to this trade.
In the Australian media the issue has been reduced to only one of the issues of supplying India with uranium despite Australia's policy of not supplying uranium to countries that have not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). India has not signed the treaty and is unlikely to do so, and only 14 of its 22 nuclear reactors are to be open to international inspection.
Despite this reality, the Australian Government is now moving rapidly to change its uranium policy and in effect assist in tearing up the NPT together with the US.
Howard signalled this change by saying that India had a good non-proliferation record while Downer said that the US-India agreement 'would be a positive step towards expansion of the reach on the international proliferation regime'.
However the tearing up of the NPT will have a destabilising effect and the eventual relegation of the Treaty. Why shouldn't other countries also make deals which will result in the spread of nuclear weapons?
Pakistan has already signalled its position. Analysing events in the Financial Review, journalist Tony Walker reports that Pakistan has warned that a US-India deal 'would threaten the collapse of international non-proliferation agreements and hasten the expansion of nuclear weapon states'. Pakistan 'would accelerate its own nuclear program and spoke of closer relations with China to combat a US-India axis'. Pakistan's Foreign Minister said in an interview that 'While the nuclear non-proliferation treaty will unravel it's only a matter of time before other countries will act in the same way. It is not just Iran and North Korea. Brazil, Argentina and Pakistan will all think differently'. He said, 'The US should be conscious of sentiments in this country They compare the US to China and feel it has not been a constant friend the way China has.'
Prakash Karat of the CPI(M) said: 'It is not the nuclear cooperation deal which is the issue. Compliance by India of aligning with US strategic interests in all spheres is the real issue.'
Far from helping to build a more peaceful and secure world the policies of the US, which the Australian Government slavishly follows, will divide and destabilise Asian countries. But this is the traditional policy of imperialism divide and rule.
By this agreement the Indian Government has, for its part, torn up its formerly independent and non-aligned foreign policy and opted for an alliance with the world's most dangerous and warlike country. The respect in which India was formerly held will steadily evaporate while Australia will be seen as an unprincipled country playing a part in the relegation of the NPT.
From The Guardian
