E&OE
1 August 2008
Interview - PM Program, ABC Radio
PRESENTER: The International Atomic Energy Agency,
the UN's nuclear watchdog, is set to approve a ground breaking
nuclear deal between India and the United States. The deal will
give India unprecedented access to US nuclear technology for
domestic civilian use. The IAEA is expected to grant its
approval despite disapproval from several countries about India
not being a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Australia, which is a member of the Board of Governors of the
IAEA has agreed to support the deal, but has so far refused to
sell any uranium to India.
Australia's Foreign Minister is Stephen Smith. He spoke to
Edmond Roy.
STEPHEN SMITH: Well our position on the sale of uranium
to India hasn't and won't change. Our position is we only
supply uranium to a country which is a party to the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty. India is not such a party. And we've
made that clear to the Indian Government from day one. But what
this arrangement does is it puts for the future a substantial
proportion of India's civil nuclear industry under the
authority of the international regulator, the International
Atomic Energy Agency, and we support that. It pursues and
supports non-proliferation.
We think that's a good thing so it does enhance the
international regulatory role over India's civil nuclear
industry but it has no effect, nor does it require any change
to Australia's long, to the Australian Labor Party's long
standing approach of not exporting uranium to a country that's
not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
EDMOND ROY: What does this mean for the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty itself, given that now the world
basically is accommodating India?
SMITH: Well if we were to change for example our policy
approach on uranium, it would seriously undermine the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Australian Government is a very
strong supporter of that treaty. We want that treaty to be
enhanced. But India has made it clear for a long period of time
it's not proposing to join the treaty. We think that's
regrettable. We continue to suggest to India that they should
join. India is one of a small number of countries who
aren't.
And in 2010 of course there's a review conference to the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. We want to enhance the
standing of the treaty. We're certainly not doing anything to
undermine it and that's why we've adopted the position that we
have.
ROY: But with the, sorry to interrupt you but with the
deal going ahead, doesn't this give India the best of both
worlds? It's outside the treaty and it gets access to
technology that it never did before.
SMITH: But what's the alternative? The alternative is
that India remains outside the international regulatory regime.
We think it's a very good thing that the international atomic
regulator, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the same
agency that's charged with trying to help bring recalcitrant
states like North Korea and Iran to brook, now has oversight of
a substantial proportion of the existing India civil nuclear
industry and its industry in the future. That's an
unambiguously good thing.
We think our approach does two things. It continues to support
and sustain the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but at the
same time it adds to the general non-proliferation regime by
bringing India's nuclear civil industry under the hallmark, or
under the authority of that regime. We think that's a very good
thing.
ROY: Does this also mean that the Nuclear Suppliers
Group, of which Australia is a member, will rubber stamp the
deal with the US, between the US and India?
SMITH: Well our approach is that the Nuclear Suppliers
Group of course has got a different decision to make. That will
occur in two or three weeks' time. We will apply the same
approach in principle term to that decision as we have to this
one. We'll take a positive and constructive approach. We will
certainly have non-proliferation considerations uppermost in
mind. We'll also take into account the strategic importance of
the arrangement to both India and the United States.
Of course the two, the two are linked, the two are inextricably
interwoven and there will be no doubt some people who will make
a logical conclusion, or say there's a logical conclusion that
having made the decision in the case of the Board of Governors
for the International Atomic Energy Agency, that the same
decision will occur at the Nuclear Suppliers Group. We will
treat the thing on its merits and we will listen to the views
of other Nuclear Suppliers Group countries. Just as in
the IAEA context we've listened to the views and the
recommendation of the Director of the IAEA that in his view,
this leads to a substantial improvement so far as
non-proliferation is concerned.
ROY: There is some criticism that there is undue
haste with which this deal has gone through, given that the
Bush administration is on its way out and there is a federal
election coming up in India early next year. Is that true?
SMITH: Well this is an arrangement that was entered into
between the United States and India in July 2005. It's not as
if anyone is surprised by the issues that we're now confronted
with. The Indian Government took this effectively to a vote of
confidence on the floor of the Indian Parliament. So there has
been substantial consideration of this by Australia and other
countries.
We're now going through the formal process and the meeting of
the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy
Agency literally as we speak, is the first and in very many
respects the substantial and defining formal consideration of
the US-India civil nuclear initiative. So people have been on
plenty of notice and we don't in any way regard ourselves as
having been rushed by it.
[Ends]
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