NZ ends stand on nuke trade after pressure

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New Zealand  dropped its opposition to a United States-India nuclear trade deal after direct diplomatic pressure from US President George Bush and India's Prime Minister.

But Prime Minister Helen Clark offered assurances yesterday that New Zealand's concerns had been addressed first, and included a clear commitment from India not to resume testing of nuclear weapons or to spread atomic technology.

New Zealand, Ireland and Austria were the last holdouts in the 45-country Nuclear Suppliers Group - which governs world trade in nuclear components and knowledge - worried by US plans to give India access to nuclear technology and fuel.

Assurances were sought because India, which already has the nuclear bomb, is not a signatory to either the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or the Test Ban Treaty.

But New Zealand came under pressure, with Mr Bush calling Prime Minister Helen Clark last Thursday, and a call from India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, about two weeks ago.

The issue was also raised during the recent visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

New Zealand's Government buckled at the weekend. Rod Alley, an honorary fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies, said a lot of pressure had been applied to New Zealand and other small countries that had threatened to derail the deal.

He said observers reported that intense pressure was put on countries that opposed the deal, which had in effect blown a gaping hole in the non-proliferation treaty.

It could be the end of the treaty, he said.

"It reinforces the claim that the NPT is based on a double standard - one rule for nuclear weapon states and another for everyone else."

Alyn Ware, the Wellington-based global coordinator of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, said he did not know what leverage had been exerted.

However, New Zealand and the other countries that had fought the deal were lobbied intensively by US and Indian political and business interests.

Because the nuclear supplier group operates by consensus, even a small country such as New Zealand could have derailed the whole deal.

Miss Clark said yesterday that she did not believe that the US would resent New Zealand's resistance - which delayed the deal's passage through Congress - but rather accepted the "very full consideration" that was given by the three holdout countries.

"We are satisfied along with Ireland and Austria as the three countries that campaigned the hardest for the best conditions, that our concerns have been addressed."

Under the terms of the agreement, any resumption of nuclear testing by India could trigger a meeting of the suppliers group and cause the decision to be reviewed, Miss Clark said.

- © Fairfax NZ News