An Indian View Cloud over Geneva
VOHRA, H. R.
AN INDIAN VIEW Cloud over Geneva by H. R. VOHRA TTow close are we to a treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons? If one were to rely only on U.S. newspapers, one would get the impression...
...In the light of all these considerations it is difficult to understand why the American press continues to spread false expectations except, perhaps, as a means of bringing pressure on the non-nuclear powers...
...In an acceptable treaty, a treaty which is to fulfill its purposes, these obligations have to be assumed not only by non-nuclear weapon powers but also by all nuclear weapon powers...
...India is in the vanguard of this group...
...resolution of September 15, 1965, reconfirmed in 1966, called upon the Conference on Disarmament to negotiate an international treaty to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons based on a number of principles, including the following two: "The treaty should be void of any loopholes which might permit nuclear or non-nuclear powers to proliferate, directly or indirectly, nuclear weapons in any form...
...They may not immediately decide to "go nuclear...
...The New York Times, for instance, predicted on November 13 that "the two sides now seem close to agreement—so close that both Soviet and American officials are privately hopeful a treaty can be signed by early next year...
...In reality they are on the same side of the table in the debate on the spread of nuclear weapons...
...without an ounce of counter-sacrifice to be made by the nuclear powers...
...it has turned tough and sour, following a succession of China's nuclear explosions and the demonstrated development of its missiles...
...The non-nuclear powers demand that a meaningful treaty on the subject must inevitably begin by renunciation of internal proliferation—the building of more atomic weapons—by the nuclear powers themselves...
...They have only now been noticed and grasped, against the background of a rising but fallacious expectation that a genuine non-proliferation treaty is in the making...
...This assertion reveals a basic misunderstanding...
...They cannot, they feel, foreclose this choice in the absence of a security-promising alternative...
...To India and most other non-nuclear powers represented at Geneva, proliferation means what the dictionary says: "to grow by multiplication...
...The Soviets were almost solely concerned with the problem of West Germany...
...newspapers, one would get the impression that an agreement is now in sight...
...The non-nuclear countries would resist imposition of inspection and controls of their future nuclear establishments except in a non-discriminatory framework...
...The treaty should embody an acceptable balance of mutual responsibilities and obligations of the nuclear and non-nuclear powers...
...This is the sole privilege, at present, of the members of the nuclear club, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, the United States, and China...
...India has said: "If any control is to be exercised, it should be exercised universally and on all aspects of proliferation...
...They will realize that the two sides, the nuclear "haves" and the nuclear "have-nots," are not even agreed on the definition of "proliferation...
...It has been confined, instead, largely to a dialogue between the United States and the Soviet Union, creating the illusion that if only they agreed upon a draft treaty, the non-nuclear powers would queue up to sign it...
...Nor are they ready to equate themselves with non-nuclear powers in regard to the "balance of mutual responsibility...
...This re...
...This strikes the non-nuclear powers as an exceedingly unfair expectation...
...India's views are not new...
...The truth has remained shrouded that the non-nuclear powers have a clearly defined position which cannot be ignored...
...India's delegate apparently had in mind the fact that the super powers already have the capacity to destroy the world many times over...
...Assembly in October, is to invite dangers of "the most titanic proportions...
...General Assembly on the subject and also by the joint memorandum of the eight non-aligned countries in the eighteen-nation Conference on Disarmament, which has been meeting in Geneva since 1962...
...Political Committee, reflecting the views of the majority of non-nuclear powers, came as somewhat of a surprise...
...The surprise and the criticism, however, are unmerited...
...Their treaty drafts reflect their desire to continue to multiply (or proliferate) their nuclear weapons and to expect non-nuclear powers to renounce forever what, in any case, they are not yet doing, thus permanently relinquishing their right to nuclear weapons...
...The recent Indian speech in the U.N...
...It stems from the erroneous belief that "the two sides" to the case are the United States and the Soviet Union...
...assurance, apparently, is now accepted by Moscow...
...The drafts also sidetrack the provision about "the balance of mutual responsibilities," thereby putting the entire burden of self-denial on the non-nuclear countries...
...To ignore this aspect of achieving real non-proliferation, India said in the U.N...
...Surely not the non-nuclear powers...
...Countries like India are guided by the rising fear of a nuclear China...
...Nor are these countries in a mood to agree not to conduct nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes and to accept the U.S...
...When the negotations resume at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, the nuclear powers, it seems, will suffer another jolt...
...Acceptance of controls on production is unthinkable to them...
...They continue underground atomic testing to perfect their weapons...
...not to seek or to receive the transfer of nuclear weapons...
...The non-members agree, in principle, that any addition to the club would add to general world insecurity...
...Non-proliferation would, therefore, imply the cessation of multiplication of nuclear weapons...
...The lacuna, however, is explainable...
...The Americans were so keen to satisfy the Soviets that they had no intention of letting West Germany into the nuclear club by the back door...
...These concern the question of controls and peaceful uses of atomic power in all its forms...
...The refusal of Soviet Russia and the United States to include some self-restraining responsibility has compelled India to say: "a balanced provision will require that no country will produce nuclear weapons...
...It is this kind of proliferation which is likely to have the most catastrophic consequence, the non-nuclear powers contend...
...The non-nuclear weapons countries will not produce them and the nuclear weapons countries will also not produce any more weapons...
...offer that, if they need them for any such purpose, they should pay for them and the nuclear powers would carry them out...
...This view contrasts sharply with that of the super powers...
...A widening resistance is developing against American and Soviet draft treaties which seek to ban transfer of nuclear weapons to nonnuclear powers and asks every non-nuclear state "not to manufacture nuclear weapons...
...On none of these important matters is any compromise yet in sight...
...There are other important points of difference between the nuclear and non-nuclear powers which becloud the prospects of an early treaty...
...And who is multiplying nuclear weapons, adding to their atomic arsenals...
...On the other side (and this has yet to be fully recognized) are the non-nuclear powers, particularly those which have reached the threshold of nuclear weapons capability...
...But they do desire that the horse of security be put before the cart of non-proliferation...
...They have rejected the offer on the ground that it amounts to "non-proliferation in science...
...No amount of agreement between them can, by itself, lead to a treaty that will be accepted universally...
...The U.N...
...But they demand that the sacrifice expected of them ought to be equitably shared by the nuclear giants...
...The patent fact is that so far there has been little discussion between the genuine "two sides" to the problem...
...The memorandum of the eight non-aligned countries reaffirms their loyalty to these principles which, incidentally, were accepted by all members of the United Nations, including the nuclear powers...
...The non-nuclear countries now object to the treaty drafts which, so far, ignore the provision about "loopholes," thus leaving the door wide open for nuclear powers to proliferate...
...The implication is clear: Any other kind of treaty would not be acceptable to India...
...They are still multiplying their stocks...
...Their thrust was directed at ensuring that West Germany remained excluded from direct and indirect possession of nuclear weapons...
...There is evidence that both super powers, in their anxiety to sign an agreement on non-proliferation, roping in as many non-nuclear powers as possible, are annoyed with India and other leading non-nuclear powers...
...Neither the Soviet Union nor the United States is willing to cease the production of nuclear weapons...
...There can be no worthwhile treaty banning the spread of nuclear weapons which remains unsigned by India, Sweden, the United Arab Republic, Israel, and Japan...
...Their resistance is amply supported by last year's resolution of the U.N...
...This unequal concept has been rejected by nearly all non-nuclear powers and most forcefully by India, Sweden, and the United Arab Republic, all of which stand close to nuclear weapons capability...
Vol. 31 • January 1967 • No. 1
