WASHINGTON: US President George W. Bush's visit to India on March 1-3 can be compared to the historic visit of President Richard Nixon to China in 1973 and could "alter the strategic landscape" to make India a major global player, according to Newsweek magazine.
In an article entitled "Nixon to China, Bush to India," Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria said Washington has had "remarkably little discussion" regarding this visit, which, if successful, "could well alter the strategic landscape, bringing India firmly and irrevocably on to the world stage as a major player, normalising its furtive nuclear status and anchoring its partnership with the United States."
Writing in the February 27 issue of Newsweek , Zakaria - who met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi last week - compares Bush's visit to India with the historic visit president Nixon made to China in 1973. He also quotes Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns as telling him that just the loose ends of the civilian nuclear agreement with India needed tying up.
Zakaria argues for far-sightedness on both sides, saying the benefits to the US and to the world "are real".
More lecturing was not going to stop India's nuclear programme and that is something recognised even by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed El Baradei, Zakaria points out. He accuses the Indian bureaucracy of being stuck in worn-out ideas of non-alignment and the Left parties in reflexive anti-Americanism.
Calling the separation of civilian and military nuclear facilities a largely technical issue that could be sorted out, Zakaria quotes Burns as saying, "We've got just 10 per cent to go", and while it was a complicated negotiation between "two equal parties", both are committed to it.
The Bush administration has also seen India's vote in Vienna to send Iran to the Security Council as having already crossed what the US Congress saw as a hurdle to bringing the July 18, 2005, Bush-Manmohan Singh deal to fruition.
His views are echoed by South Asian expert Stephen Cohen who feels Bush has been ahead of his administration so far as his India initiative is concerned.
Cohen, of the leading Washington think tank, the Brookings Institution, said about the president's upcoming India visit in early March: "Bush wanted to make this trip long ago.
"He saw India as a rising power and has been a leading advocate of India in the US. He's the first president after John F. Kennedy who was ahead of his government."
Cohen said the July 18 agreement last year between President Bush and visiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was such a surprise that there might be another surprise in store during this visit.
"Maybe there could be some major purchases of military equipment or my guess is Bush will want to have the nuclear agreement to take to Congress and might have some waiver capability such as fuel for Tarapur."
Source: Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1422462.cms
--
Related: Fareed Zakaria: Nixon to China, Bush to India
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment