Leaders at Summit Condemn India for Nuclear Tests

The leaders of eight major world powers joined Friday to condemn India’s nuclear explosions, declaring that each of their bilateral relationships with New Delhi had been damaged by its actions.

Although U.S. officials had held out faint hope that they could prod the group to impose joint sanctions, they faced European resistance. Instead, each country pledged to make its disapproval of India--which tested five nuclear devices this week--known in its own way.

“We express our grave concern about the increased risk of nuclear and missile proliferation in South Asia and elsewhere,” the leaders said in a statement issued late Friday. “We call upon India to rejoin the mainstream of international opinion.”

The so-called Group of 8--composed of the G-7 (the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan) and Russia--also called upon other states to voice concern over India’s actions.

In a separate statement, the leaders distanced themselves from Indonesian President Suharto and his authoritarian regime, stressing that the escalating unrest in his Southeast Asian nation will not end without political reform.

Throughout the first day of the annual G-8 summit, held this year in this industrial English city, scheduled topics were overshadowed by the pressing questions of how to respond to the rioting and bloodshed in Indonesia and, more urgent, India’s nuclear tests.

President Clinton--who is searching for a strategy to dissuade Pakistan from following India and conducting its own nuclear tests--said he was “very pleased” with the G-8 position statements, according to Deputy National Security Advisor James Steinberg.

The U.S. and Japan have already ordered stiff economic sanctions against New Delhi, and Steinberg indicated that the Clinton administration still has hope that more countries will follow suit.

But even before the summit began, it was clear that at least Russia and France--and probably Italy--opposed the idea of joint economic sanctions, deeming them inflexible and ineffectual.

But any hope that the G-8 leaders would agree to even a more limited set of coordinated actions against New Delhi seemed to fade when Britain, the meeting’s host nation--and the United States’ frequent partner on the world stage--decided to steer away from them.

A senior British official answered with an unequivocal “No” when asked if Prime Minister Tony Blair would push for a sanctions package.

Britain’s stance left only the U.S., Japan, Canada and Germany prepared to do anything at all on the sanctions front.

Earlier in the week, Japan, the only nation to suffer an atomic attack and India’s largest aid donor, suspended more than $500 million in foreign assistance, while Germany broke off talks that would have led to an aid package of about $200 million. Canada recalled its senior representative in India and halted the sale of military equipment.

Hinting at France and Russia, Steinberg stressed that if “key countries” fail to support sanctions, the impact of other nations’ actions will be diluted.

“Clearly, we want the broadest effort,” he said. “It’s a question not of everybody doing the same thing, but a number of countries taking appropriate actions that make clear to India that there is a price to be paid for this.”

The intended message to Pakistan, he added, is that “by avoiding a nuclear test, they can avoid these consequences.”

The G-8 leaders opted for a strongly worded condemnation of the tests coupled with equally strong efforts to coax India to sign the two main international treaties aimed at limiting nuclear proliferation: the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. They also urged India to participate in ongoing negotiations on a treaty that would require signatories to stop producing weapons-grade uranium.

India has consistently refused to participate in such negotiations and treaties until the five declared nuclear powers--Britain, France, the U.S., China and Russia--first agree to give up their nuclear arms. About 175 countries have signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, thus renouncing the right to develop nuclear arms. The test ban treaty, currently awaiting U.S. Senate ratification, prohibits all nuclear weapons testing.

Although it is too early to know the effect of the statement, a senior British official said Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told Blair that there was at least some hope.

“The Indian prime minister gave at least a willingness to consider [adhering to the two treaties],” the British official said.

Despite their strong statement, Europeans and Americans differed in their assessments of the likelihood that Pakistan could be persuaded to forgo nuclear tests.

Clinton said he hoped that with the help of the other world leaders he would be able to “find a formula” that would make it “politically possible” for Pakistani leaders to resist the internal pressure they are clearly feeling to conduct their own nuclear tests.

French officials, however, were skeptical that anything could be done to dissuade Islamabad, indicating that they believe that a nuclear test is a fait accompli.

In Islamabad on Friday, Pakistani leaders told a U.S. delegation that they are in no hurry to test a nuclear device.

On Indonesia, the leaders clearly were tiptoeing away from Suharto, whose country fell into near-anarchy this week, spurred by price hikes instituted as part of broader International Monetary Fund-backed reforms and following months of student demonstrations. On Tuesday, six protesters were killed by police, and the death toll has risen to more than 160 since.

“We deplore the killings and urge the authorities to show maximum restraint,” the G-8 leaders said.

They also urged the Indonesian government to reject its oppressive policies and become more open to political pluralism, although the word “democracy” was not mentioned.

“The current social unrest indicates that, to resolve the crisis, political as well as economic reform is necessary,” the statement said. “The need for political reform is widely acknowledged in Indonesia. We encourage the authorities to respond rapidly, by opening a dialogue which addresses the aspirations of the Indonesian people and by introducing the necessary reforms.”

Throughout the day, Clinton, French President Jacques Chirac, Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and others expressed alarm about the mayhem.

Early in the day, Clinton issued a statement calling on the Indonesian government to give “the people of Indonesia a real voice in the country’s political affairs and make a real contribution to restoring political order and stability based on human rights and the rule of law.”

Chirac said political reform was now the only way out of the crisis.

“Obviously, the IMF measures can’t be implemented in the current situation, but if nothing happens in Indonesia, we will have more serious consequences,” Chirac warned.

Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin, in his pre-summit meetings with Blair and other G-8 leaders, also proclaimed that the unrest has grave repercussions for the Asia-Pacific region.

“Russia is greatly concerned about the situation in Indonesia,” Yeltsin spokesman Sergei V. Yastrzhembsky quoted the president as saying. “Russia wants to help in any way it can because the situation is fraught with danger for many, including the citizens of countries gathered here in Birmingham.”

Today, the G-8 leaders head into the English countryside for a day of discussions away from the media spotlight, part of Blair’s plan to make the annual meeting more informal and intimate.

Times staff writer Carol J. Williams contributed to this report.