Monday, 25 September, 2006

by Peter Hartcher, Political editor
Sydney Morning Herald

INDIA has strongly urged Australia to change its nuclear policy and agree to supply uranium to power its booming economy.

This puts the Howard Government in an awkward situation - it must either offend India, a rising power and important trading partner, or protect the sanctity of a policy that other countries are abandoning.

Australia's current policy prohibits the sale of uranium to countries that have not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

While the Prime Minister, John Howard, is understood to be open to a change of policy, it is believed that the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, is opposed.

The US Senate is expected to decide this week to dump such a policy and legislate a new nuclear co-operation deal with India, and two senior Indian Government officials made it plain that Australia should also change its policy.

"Once the legislation is through, we would hope that Australia could push itself - and push the Nuclear Suppliers Group - to supply us with uranium and state-of-the-art technology," said M. K. Narayanan, the National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

"The US, Russia, the UK have recognised why we need nuclear energy and they are going out of their way to assist, and we would hope that Australia would see it," he said in an interview with the Herald. "A friend in need is a friend indeed - that's the bottom line."

India, which has overtaken Britain to become Australia's fourth-biggest export market, would not be pleased with an Australian refusal. "Certainly, India would feel unhappy at the turn of events. We would see it as a turndown," Mr Narayanan said.

When the US President, George Bush, decided in July that the US should dump a similar policy, Mr Howard created a study group that travelled to the US and India to gather information on the US-India agreement.

This was a temporising mechanism, and now India is seeking a positive answer from Canberra.

Sanjay Baru, the spokesman for India's Prime Minister, said: "It's certainly not something that would spoil the relationship, but it would not be normal for Australia to have a relationship with China in this area but not with us merely because of the NPT."

Dr Baru said Mr Singh was "reaching out" to Australia and planned to visit next year.

He told the Herald: "Interaction is way below potential. Our PM looks forward to visiting Australia, probably next year … If you look at the last two years of Singh's diplomatic diary, you will find a large part of the engagement is to the east."

Australia has decided to sell uranium to China, a signatory to the treaty, after China agreed to a series of safeguards.

Dr Baru said: "We see ourselves as a legitimate nuclear power and we certainly expect our friends in the world to recognise that.

"We have a track record like that of a signatory to the NPT, and certainly we are better than China - we have a much better record of non-proliferation."

Under the terms of the US deal with India, eight of India's nuclear reactors will be set aside for its nuclear weapons program, while the rest will be used exclusively for generating power.

Only the civilian power plants will be eligible for the benefits of the technology agreement with the US.

Australia is a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 45-member caucus created to stop nuclear fuel and technology going to irresponsible states.

But most of the members of this group have signalled that they will supply India under the terms of the US deal. Yesterday South Africa became the latest to agree to sell uranium to India.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, also endorsed the deal.

It would, he said, "assure India of reliable access to nuclear technology and nuclear fuel. It would also be a step forward towards universalisation of the international safeguards regime."