Posted on 03/31/2005 2:37:47 AM PST by Gengis Khan
No deal with Pak on F-16 sale: Rice
Onkar Singh in New Delhi | March 16, 2005 12:46 IST Last Updated: March 16, 2005 13:28 IST
India on Wednesday conveyed its concern to the United States over its reported move to sell F-16 warplanes to Pakistan.
The issue figured during the wide-ranging talks visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had with External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh in New Delhi on Wednesday morning.
Singh said he conveyed to Dr Rice that any such sale might create 'some complications'.
Addressing a joint press conference, Dr Rice sought to allay New Delhi's apprehensions, saying there has been no such agreement with Islamabad and 'I don't expect any such announcement' during the course of her visit to South Asia, including Pakistan.
Dr Rice said US President George W Bush hoped to visit India later this year.
Maintaining a studied silence on India's claim for a permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council, she, however, said the US was talking to countries around the world on restructuring the world body and other issues related to it.
Dr Rice said restructuring the UN was a complex issue. "We are at the beginning of United Nations reforms," she noted.
The issue of India's claim for a permanent membership did come up during the discussions with Singh and the two agreed to stay in touch, the American Secretary of State said.
Dr Rice expressed her government's concern on the India-Iran gas pipeline. She said US Ambassador to India David Mulford had already conveyed US reservations to the Indian government.
Singh said India would continue to have cordial relations with Iran despite American reservations. The petroleum ministry was in touch with Iranian officials and holding talks with them on the pipeline, he added.
Both Dr Rice and Singh said there was a greater need to find new resources of energy and also for a close cooperation in defence and other areas.
Dr Rice paid rich tributes to the rise of India as a major economic power. She recalled how in December last year Indian ships helped tsunami victims not only in the country but in other nations as well.
The two leaders are likely to continue discussions during lunch.
Earlier, the US secretary of state called on Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The two discussed 'various important issues' during the half-an-hour meeting, Dr Rice said.
Additional reportage: PTI
http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/mar/16rice2.htm
I was pretty shocked at the move by the US to arm Pakistan.. about like I felt when we gave that 20 mil to the Palestinians.. we can't play both sides..
Interesting read in yesterday's Wall Street Journal about this very subject. Their take was India wasn't as disappointed as portrayed since, in fact, India has been approved to buy the latest, more up to date fighter, the FA18. And in more quantity. Is this incorrect?
But it seems we always do. I had hoped the days of zig zag diplomacy were behind us but this Pak thing is troubling. I hope I'm wrong when I say that I think we will regret our reliance/closeness to Pak. After all, it IS a very unstable country and God forbid that something should happen to Musharaf.
On the other hand I do feel some reassurance that by using our equipment we retain some control over the operation and maintenance requirements.
All I can tell you is that at this moment most Indians are miffed. US credibility is down to the dumps and bigtime.
http://www.keralanext.com/news/indexread.asp?id=168525
US acknowledges rhetoric has to match action :
1 Hour,48 minutes Ago
[India News] New Delhi, In a tacit acknowledgement that its avowed intention to make India a "world power" has not impressed most Indians, the US has said that it has to match rhetoric with action.
"We must match the rhetoric of our aspirations with a programme to realise them. Both of our great nations must take substantive - and occasionally difficult -- steps to move away from past prejudices and practices into a new world of cooperation and partnership," US Ambassador to India David Mulford said in a statement released by the embassy Thursday.
"It is now official. It is the policy of the United States to help India become a major world power in the 21st century," he said and added this was what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conveyed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during her recent visit to India.
Most Indian political parties have criticised what they consider the patronising tone of the US offer and described it as an attempt to assuage Delhi over Washington's decision to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan - a "great disappointment" in the words of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Mulford however described the US move as an "exciting turning point to years of hard work to transform the U.S.-India bilateral relationship into a true strategic partnership."
Rice's visit was to share with the Indian leadership "a vision for a decisively broader strategic relationship, to help India achieve its goals as one of the world's great multiethnic democracies," he said.
"This vision embraces cooperation on a global strategy for peace, on defence, on energy, and on economic growth. It is now clear what she meant by this", he said.
According to the envoy, there is no fundamental conflict or disagreement between the US and India on any important regional and global issue.
"We work closely together in countering terrorism, share the view that extremist governments have no place in the international system, cooperate in fighting health issues such as HIV/AIDS and polio, and work together to build a much stronger economic relationship", he said.
He said the two countries were poised for a partnership that will be crucial in shaping the international order in the 21st century.
The Next Steps in the Strategic Partnership (NSSP) initiative launched by the two countries last year helped build trust and cooperation in sensitive areas - civilian nuclear technology, civil space technology, high-technology trade, and a dialogue on missile defense, he said and added "important progress" had been made in each of these areas.
"Secretary Rice shared with her Indian interlocutors the President's vision that the United States and India must broaden this cooperation to help us achieve our shared objective - making India the global power it can and should be," he added.
He said the US-India dialogue would not only address important global and regional security problems, but would move "much deeper into engagement on India's defence requirements, including discussion of co-production and addressing India's concern about the United States as a reliable supplier."
"Let's order a second hot dog!"
I thought Indians were vegans - however - a very interesting and provocative post. You raise some serious issues...
Maybe we want India to supply Taiwan with nuclear weapons so China will point the finger at them, not us, if a glowing shooting match develops over the Strait.
Actually that's just a stereotype. Indians DO eat meat. Beef is available there, but not many consume it. Poultry, fish and mutton tops the list. Agreed, Indian diets are largely vegetarian.
A nuke-armed Taiwan will keep China in a position where it can only bark. I don't understand why no one else understands that.
So you discount the contention that the limited quantities of F-16's provided are for continuing operations against the Talaban and Al-Queda forces hidden in the mountains? (which, by the way, have been very effective at pin-point accurate attacks.) Or that the assumption that these aircraft would be deployed against India would require the Pac's to be suicidal? If both sides have nukes, and the means of delivering them already, how do aircraft make this situation more deadly?
I'm just asking the question. I believe the Administration is trying to develop a new strategy in the region that incorporates all who share the same interests. I think it's more productive for India and Pakistan to join in the common defense rather than either side expecting the U.S. to favor one over the other. Wouldn't you agree?
I would think the interest for India would be to help Pakistan and Musarrif(sp) shed the radicalism of the past and continue to democratize as India has shown so well. Just my opinion.
And rightly so. Pakistan has no business with the F16 technology. But beyond that, India should realize a plane without spare parts will soon become a grounded monument, and a plane without a properly trained pilot is soon to become an oversized lawn dart..
F16s won't be used for that purpose. Tell me when you see them doing so.
As for Pakistan's current delivery means, they are vulnerable to an Indian pre-emptive strike. Not so with large numbers of F16s.
This path was not taken. The current policy, to make Pakistan an "ally", has much lower entry costs, which is likely why it was chosen.
However, the cost of maintaining the fiction that Pakistan is "friendly" rises sharply in later years, as our enemies there learn to game the system, which is what we see here.
So you believe the Pak's are, indeed suicidal?
In a way I would not be so dumb as Rice et al to put on my own head responsibility for arming terror states like Paki. I would tend to India for cultural reasons and anti terror reasons...But!
India is a Soviet/Russia client state and would not support the US in Iraq. Also, whassup with caving in to Pakistan after the parliament massacre? That is on India's head... the fear of nuking Pakistan, not on the US'
So what has India done for the U.S. ever?
The Indians have sucked up to Russia and or China for decades going any way possible but towards the U.S.
Pakistan while being a very unstable place neverthe less is a U.S. ally. Has helped in the war on terror.
We have been trying to make it easier for Pakistan to stick to the war on terror.
True - but if the US supplied them, we'd provoke the Chinese in a way that Western influence could be curbed and China's SLOW but sure move toward democratization would end.
This way, Taiwan can be defended and we can sustain our growing relations with those more friendly, pro-democratic elements in the Mainland. They DO exist, and ARE going to be a major influence in the near future.
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