Friday, 29 August 2014

India not revisiting its nuclear doctrine, Modi assures Japan - Times of India

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NEW DELHI: Keeping in view Tokyo's nuclear sensitivities on the eve of his visit to Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stressed that India is not revising its nuclear doctrine.

In an interview to Japanese journalists here, Modi said, "While every government naturally takes into account the latest assessment of strategic scenarios and makes adjustments as necessary, there is a tradition of national consensus and continuity on such issues. I can tell you that currently, we are not taking any initiative for a review of our nuclear doctrine."


India is trying to work out a civil nuclear agreement with Japan, which is proving to be extraordinarily difficult, because of Tokyo's insistence on more comprehensive non-proliferation commitments. The prospect that the NDA government may revise the "no first use" component of India's nuclear doctrine had scared them off even more.


In its election manifesto, the BJP had declared its intent to "revise and update" India's nuclear doctrine, formulated a year after the 1998 Pokhran-II tests under the Vajpayee government with "no first use" and "non-use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states" as its touchstones.




Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


It was formally adopted in January, 2003. India had also declared a unilateral moratorium on further nuclear tests.


In his interview, PM reiterated the non-proliferation commitments that India has already made and stuck to. Reiterating New Delhi's stand on NPT being discriminatory, the PM stated, "We are committed to maintaining a unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing."



"There is no contradiction in our mind between being a nuclear weapon state and contributing actively to global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. India remains strongly committed to universal, non-discriminatory, global nuclear disarmament. Our track record of non-proliferation is impeccable. We will continue to contribute to the strengthening of the global non-proliferation efforts. India's membership of the four international export control regimes will be conducive to this," Modi ​said.



Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

In a departure statement, the PM laid out what he expected to accomplish during the visit.


"We will explore how Japan can associate itself productively with my vision of inclusive development in India, including the transformation of India's manufacturing, infrastructure, energy and social sectors. We will discuss how to boost our defence and security cooperation, including in defence technology, equipment and industry, in line with the evolving domestic policies of the two countries," he said.



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