Clinton Hails India Ties, but Nuclear Rift Remains

President Clinton and India’s prime minister, celebrating a new era in U.S.-Indian relations, agreed on a broad expansion of cooperative programs Friday but apparently fell short of overcoming thorny differences on nuclear issues.

“It’s inconceivable to me that we can build the kind of world we want over the next 10 to 20 years unless there is a very strong partnership between the United States and India,” Clinton said during a photo session in the Oval Office with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Earlier, Vajpayee joined Clinton at a welcoming ceremony on the White House South Lawn and said: “This is a time of new hope and new opportunities in Indo-American ties.”

Disagreements over nuclear issues remained, but as the day unfolded, a strong sense emerged of a new comfort level between the former Cold War rivals and a perception that problems can be dealt with in a trusting atmosphere.

Agreements were announced on enhancing cooperation on such issues as trade, investment, counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, energy and the environment, among others.

The chief bilateral problem is India’s refusal so far to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which has yet to take effect. The United States has signed the treaty, but the Senate has refused to ratify it. The Clinton administration has tried to persuade India to sign and ratify it regardless of what the United States does, arguing that it would be in India’s national interest.

India has said it would not stand in the way of the test-ban treaty’s implementation, indicating that, once major powers such as the U.S. and China ratify it, New Delhi will be prepared to follow.

In the meantime, India has vowed to maintain a moratorium on nuclear testing, which drew praise from Clinton at the South Lawn ceremony. The 30-minute event, held on an idyllic late-summer morning, attracted a throng of invited guests, including many Indian Americans.

The prime minister met with U.S. and Indian business leaders Friday night and discussed recent and planned changes in Indian regulations to privatize state utilities and other industries. He was there to woo foreign investment to help India gain the high-tech infrastructure that it needs to expand its economy.

At the same time, he expressed awe at U.S. economic power. “The continued U.S. prosperity is almost a miracle,” he said, adding that it has “inspired India.”

Vajpayee, 75, has been hobbled by a bad knee throughout his U.S. visit. Departing from custom, he remained seated as Clinton spoke to the gathering. A planned midafternoon news conference was canceled because Vajpayee complained of exhaustion, White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart said. The prime minister’s U.S. visit began a week ago, when he attended the U.N. Millennium Summit in New York.

Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic presidential nominee, hosted a luncheon for Vajpayee and told him at a private meeting that he will resubmit the test-ban treaty to the Senate as one of his first acts as president if he is elected, according to Bruce Reidel, a National Security Council official.

In a toast to Vajpayee before the lunch, Gore said, “It is rare to find a leader who embraces the qualities of idealism and pragmatism and confidence and humility. And in you, Mr. Prime Minister, we have such a leader.”

A joint statement issued late Friday said India will “continue efforts to develop a broad political consensus” on the test-ban issue with the purpose of “bringing these discussions to a successful conclusion.”

India also reaffirmed its commitment “not to block the entry into force of the treaty,” the statement said. That will require ratification of all countries with nuclear weapons or other types of nuclear programs and of a number of countries without nuclear programs.

India’s sense of vulnerability, stemming from its concern over the nuclear capabilities of neighbors China and Pakistan, prompted Vajpayee to order nuclear tests in May 1998. Pakistan followed with tests of its own. Earlier this year, Clinton described the subcontinent as perhaps the “most dangerous place” in the world, but he refrained from such comments during Vajpayee’s visit.

In response to the weapons tests by the South Asian rivals, the administration imposed sanctions against both. Most have been lifted since then. Reidel indicated that sanctions against India will remain until it ratifies the test-ban treaty.