The Editorial Board
The New York Times
July 5, 2014
India is seeking membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 48-nation body established 40 years ago to ensure that civilian trade in nuclear materials is not diverted for military purposes, as was done by India itself. Membership would greatly enhance the acceptance of India as a nuclear weapons state and give it a say in how countries trade in nuclear-related exports.
The application, which was discussed at a meeting in Buenos Aires last month, should not be granted until India proves itself willing to take a leading role in halting the spread of the world’s most lethal weapons. One way to do that would be by opening negotiations with Pakistan and China to end the dangerous regional nuclear arms race.
India has long sought to carve out a special exception for itself in the nuclear sphere. For many years, the country was barred from nuclear trade by the United States and other major states after it tested its first nuclear weapon in 1974 with materials and equipment acquired from Canada and the United States, ostensibly for peaceful purposes, and tested again in 1998. It has refused to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which commits all states (except the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China) to forsake nuclear weapons.
That situation started to change in 2008 when the United States signed a civilian nuclear trade deal with India, a rising economic power with a huge need for energy.
President George W. Bush was so eager to use the agreement as the center piece of a new India-America relationship that he cut a weak deal. India did not have to limit its nuclear weapons, stop producing bomb-making material or forsake nuclear testing. Even India’s promise that American business would benefit from nuclear technology contracts has not been fulfilled because of an Indian liability law that imposes hefty financial responsibility on contractors if there is an accident.
India already has a partnership arrangement with the suppliers group, and membership would advance its status as a nuclear weapons state, even though it has not signed the nonproliferation treaty. Moreover, since the group operates on consensus, membership would give India a veto over decision making, including any decision involving Pakistan, which is not being considered for membership.
To enhance its membership bid, India recently said it was ratifying a long-promised agreement that lets the International Atomic Energy Agency do more oversight on India’s civilian nuclear program. But the agreement carries fewer obligations than those agreed to by other major states, and there would still be no verification or check on India’s growing military-related nuclear program.
According to IHS Jane’s, a defense research group, India is expanding a uranium enrichment plant that could support the development of nuclear bombs. That is sure to make Pakistan, which has the world’s fastest growing nuclear arsenal, more anxious than ever. India is believed to have 90-110 nuclear weapons; Pakistan, about 100-120; and China, about 250.
India’s new prime minister, Narendra Modi, who plans to visit President Obama at the White House in September, has made economic growth a priority. The Americans are eager to capitalize on that, as are other Western powers, with a focus on winning Indian defense and nuclear energy contracts. If India wants to be part of the nuclear suppliers group, it needs to sign the treaty that prohibits nuclear testing, stop producing fissile material, and begin talks with its rivals on nuclear weapons containment.
