WASHINGTON: The United States has warned that nuclear testing by India would result in the cancellation of bilateral aid and could imperil multilateral aid as well, the Los Angeles Times reported, quoting unnamed US officials.

“In the first use of a sweeping antinuclear law, the Clinton Administration quietly warned India last month that if it conducts a nuclear test, the United States will cut off virtually all the economic benefits New Delhi receives from the US,” the Los Angeles Times said in its Washington dispatch.

US officials, including the US ambassador to India, Mr, Frank Wisner, cautioned New Delhi that any such test would prompt the administration to invoke a little known 1994 statute called the Glenn Amendment, the report said.

The amendment requires the US to cut off all economic aid, military aid, credits, bank loans and all other lending to the national that goes against US wishes.

It also calls upon the US executive director id vote in the World Bank, IMF, Asian Development Bank and all other multilateral organizations against any loans to India.

 

The message was delivered after US Intelligence officials detected some signs showing that India might be preparing to conduct a nuclear test explosion, the report said.

However, according to Shyamala Cowsik, deputy chief of mission for the Indian embassy in Washington, “we know that the Glenn Amendment exists, But there has been no such demarche with us here.”

While she added that she did not know of any warnings delivered in New Delhi, a Clinton Administration official said, “we certainly brought to India’s attention the legally mandated sanctions that would apply if they conducted a test.”

“Wisner delivered to New Delhi the message: If you test, it will be awful for our bilateral relations,” the report quoted the official as saying.

Unlike other laws where the White House has the power to grant waivers, the Glenn Amendment makes it virtually impossible for a President to prevent sanctions from taking effect.

US officials said that Japan and Germany, which are also opposed to nuclear testing, are the bank’s second and third leading shareholders after the US and if all the three nations unite against India on the issue, loans to India can be blocked.

Article extracted from this publication >>  January 24, 1996