Author:
Publication: AFP
Date: November 9, 2001
New Delhi, Nov 9 (AFP) - India reportedly
thumbed its nose at a US proposal to become Washington's "foremost military
ally" and a "counterweight" to China and Islamic states in the region,
India Today magazine reported Friday.
In a press statement released here,
India Today editor Prabhu Chawla said he had "confidential documents" which
showed Washington had approached Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
with a proposal for a major military alliance.
"India's Cabinet Committee on Security
(CCS) deliberated on this at their meeting on October 19 and November 3
and rejected the proposals," the statement said.
The magazine said that US President
George W. Bush's proposal would have, in effect, made India the foremost
military ally of the United States in Asia.
"It envisaged a central role for
India as a counterweight to China on the one hand and the Islamic states
of West Asia on the other," said the magazine.
"The US had proposed military bases
in India for training its forces and these included the establishment of
a naval firing range and land training facilities."
The magazine added that in addition,
Washington wanted the Indian Navy to safeguard American interests from
the Arabian Sea to the Straits of Malacca by providing escort for its naval
supply ships.
"In the event of these ships being
attacked, the Indian navy was expected to engage the enemy," said the magazine.
The US proposal also included the
establishment of joint communication networks.
The political news magazine added
that despite India's initial rejection, the proposal for greater Indo-US
military cooperation could dominate talks between Vajpayee and Bush at
the White House Friday.
"Apart from hinting that military
cooperation could figure during the agenda of the Vajpayee-Bush talks in
the White House on Friday, officials in both countries are tightlipped,"
said the magazine.
"But when Bush and Vajpayee meet
in Washington their discussions on the war on terrorism may well delve
into the question of US military bases in India."
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
was forthcoming about a need to strengthen "military-to-military and defence
ties" between India and the United States during his stop-over in Delhi
on November 5, added the magazine.
Vajpayee's meeting with Bush comes
a day before the US president is due to meet President Pervez Musharraf
of Pakistan in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General
Assembly.
Washington's role in South Asian
geopolitics has become even more finely balanced since the terror attacks
on New York and the Pentagon on September 11 that killed around 5,000 people.
India for its part has made no secret
of how it could use US help.
Defence Minister George Fernandes
recently said that India would urge the United States to lift military
sanctions that prevent US companies from selling high- tech weapons systems
to New Delhi.
In September, Bush partially lifted
US sanctions against India and Pakistan which were imposed in 1998 after
they carried out nuclear test blasts. But a ban on importing some strategic
equipment is still in place.
India also wants to ensure the renewed
US-Pakistan cooperation in the fight against terror does not extend to
direct US sales of arms to neighbour and arch-rival Islamabad.
