Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Would the bilateral committee set up for discussing energy issues be able to
find, as Chirac diplomatically put it, 'solutions which reconcile our common
willingness to cooperate with the necessary respect of the rules fixed by the
international community?'
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India expects some flexibility, arguing that France's
rigidity on that matter is not realistic. After all, Washington has for years turned
a blind eye to Chinese proliferation, because trade prospects appear sometimes
more important than the rules of sanctions.
Russia, on her own, has certainly bent over US pressure regarding the
proposed technology transfer related to cryogenic engines, said to violate the
Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). Finally, Moscow did sell such
engines to India which needed them for its Geosynchronous Space Launch
Vehicle, which took off in May 2001. The basic argument goes that if France
sticks to the theology of regulations regarding nuclear energy or dual
technology, she might lose her share of the Indian nuclear energy market,
estimated at $30 billion for the next 20 years, to the benefit of less rigid
competitors. However, Moscow, said to be understanding, is careful as well.
Russians made a deal with Washington on the cryogenic engines, and the India-
Russian cooperation agreement on Koodankulam nuclear power plant, signed in
1988, has not yet materialized.
France is therefore not alone in paying attention to international regulations in
this field. She is said to try to have them somehow relaxed in favor of New
Delhi, pleading India's case at the NSG. This would be in line with a second
argument advanced by New Delhi, which suggests that the rational view is to
consider India as a responsible partner. Officially, Paris believes that the
responsibility invoked would be better established if New Delhi were sending
what Minister Védrine called 'signals'.
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Unofficially, Indian insiders suggest
that some French key players admit that the dual technology constraints
regarding civil nuclear energy have no valid rationale when applied to India, a
country which already and openly possesses nuclear weapons.
The matter expresses well the present transition stage India is passing through.
She asserts herself as a future big power, but asks perhaps more than other
nations are ready to agree to for the time being. This is precisely this transitional
stage which gives their value to the dialogues currently engaged by New Delhi with
many countries. To put back the Indo-French bilateral dialogue in its larger
context will finally help to assess its contents, and its significance.
