U.S.-India Tensions: Misperceptions on Nuclear Proliferation

Abstract

Nonproliferation Treaty, that India is vulnerable to technology-denying efforts, and that it can be equated with its neigh bor, Pakistan. These perceptions take on added import because of the assumption by American policymakers that South Asia is the most dangerous nuclear hot spot. Implicitly, India's image also con tinues to be that of a revisionist state des tined to be at odds with the United States, a status quo global power. These are misperceptions that deserve atten tion, as only four months remain for con structive dialogue before the npt conference convenes to review the expir ing 30-year-old treaty. The npt has come to represent the core of U.S. nonproliferation efforts. The Clinton administration has promised to spare no effort to get an indefinite exten sion. The United States sees India's con tinuing opposition to signing what New Delhi considers an inherently discrimina tory npt as symptomatic of India's ten dency to obstruct global arms control efforts. This view, however, discounts India's numerous disarmament initiatives (in the United Nations and elsewhere) and its adherence to the principles that underlie the npt.