[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 59 (Tuesday, May 12, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4680-S4682]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         INDIA'S NUCLEAR TESTS

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I understand that the Senate is not on any 
legislation right now. I would like to take just a few minutes of the 
Senate's time to talk about the disturbing events that happened in 
South Asia yesterday.
  Mr. President, to paraphrase a speech that President Roosevelt gave 
57 years ago in the House Chamber, yesterday is a day that will live in 
infamy, for the Nation of India. At a time when world

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tensions are being reduced, when the cold war is over, when nuclear 
arsenals are being reduced, at a time when we are on the threshold of 
signing a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Nation of India 
deliberately and provocatively, with total disregard for world opinion 
and total disregard for regional stability in South Asia, detonated 
three nuclear weapons. And to make matters even worse, they were 
detonated near the border with Pakistan.
  These tests were conducted without advance warning to the 
international community. They clearly work against the goals of 
nonproliferation and international stability. Indian's Prime Minister's 
principal secretary said afterwards that with the test, ``India has a 
proven capability for a weaponized nuclear program.''
  Mr. President, India's behavior is clearly unacceptable. These 
underground tests could well trigger a nuclear arms race in the region.
  I believe that the United States should be prepared to exercise the 
full range and depth of sanctions available under law. For example, the 
Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act of 1994 requires the President to 
cut off almost all U.S. Government aid to India, bar American banks 
from making loans to the Government, stop exports of American products 
with military uses such as machine tools and computers, and, most 
importantly, oppose aid to India by the World Bank and the 
International Monetary Fund.
  An article that appeared this morning in the New York Times pointed 
out that, ``India is the world's largest borrower from the World Bank, 
with more than $44 billion in loans; it is expecting about $3 billion 
in loans and credits this year.''
  Well, I think it is time for the United States to exercise its voice 
and vote in the World Bank, and let India know that no longer can it 
come and get that kind of money if all it is going to do is spend its 
money on developing and testing not only fission weapons but yesterday 
a thermonuclear weapon, a hydrogen bomb.
  Further quoting from this article, Monday's tests ``came as a 
complete shock, a bolt out of the blue'' to the White House, one senior 
administration official said. ``It's a fork in the road.'' ``Will India 
and Pakistan be locked in a nuclear arms race? Will the Chinese resume 
nuclear testing now?''
  What is also disturbing is that our intelligence agencies obviously 
did not pick up any signs that the tests were imminent and reported 
that activities at the test site appeared to be routine.
  Let's see now. How much did we spend on our intelligence agencies 
last year? About thirty billion dollars? And they can't even tell us 
when one of the largest nations on Earth is going to explode nuclear 
weapons? You wonder what that $30 billion is going for. I think a 
thorough review needs to be made of our intelligence operation.
  Back to the point, Senator John Glenn, our colleague, who is the 
author of the law, is quoted as saying, ``Those sanctions are 
mandatory,'' and the only way to delay them is if the President tells 
Congress that their immediate imposition would harm national security. 
And that delay can only last 30 days. Congress can only remove the 
sanctions by passing a law or joint resolution.
  ``It would be hard to avoid the possibility of sanctions,'' a senior 
State Department official said. ``There is no wiggle room in the law.''
  Further quoting our colleague, who is quoted again in the New York 
Times this morning, Senator Glenn called the tests ``the triumph of 
fear over prudence, a monumental setback for efforts to halt the global 
spread of nuclear weapons.''
  Mr. President, the Nation of India is no longer the nation of 
Mohandas Gandhi, I am sorry to say. The Nation of India has embarked on 
a new and dangerous course in South Asia, one that I think has ominous 
foreboding for all of their neighbors in that area, and also for us 
here in the United States.
  Of course, it is my fervent hope that India's neighbors will show 
restraint. It is my hope and my desire that Pakistan and China and 
other nations in that region will recognize the importance of caution 
despite this dangerous, inflammatory and provocative move by India. 
Again, they should not follow the lead of India but recognize the 
importance of restraining a nuclear arms race.
  I believe that this Senate should also press for appropriate action 
by the international community. The international community should join 
with the United States in bringing to bear whatever sanctions it can, 
especially in the World Bank to cut off all loans to India.
  Again, what India has done underscores the need for a nuclear test 
ban treaty. But now it becomes clear why, in August of 1996, after 
years of difficult negotiations, we finally got a final treaty 
supported by all countries for a comprehensive test ban, India refused 
to sign. Maybe now we know why.
  The treaty was endorsed by a 158-to-3 margin at the United Nations. 
However, India walked out and said they weren't going to sign.
  We cannot give up. We cannot let this action by the Government in 
India deter us from our goal of a comprehensive test ban.
  I do not in any way mean my remarks today to implicate all of the 
wonderful people of India, many of whom I have counted as my friends, 
many of whom worked very hard on the issues of human rights, social 
justice, ending child labor. But I do wish by my remarks today to 
implicate and condemn in the strongest possible language permitted in 
this body the actions by the Government of India. This was its 
decision. This was its deliberate decision to conduct these tests in 
clear disregard for the opinion of the world.
  So the Government of India bears a heavy responsibility for what 
follows. I hope they do not, although my hopes seem to be feint in 
light of what the Government of India said yesterday, intend to 
weaponize their nuclear program. Not only have they tested these 
weapons, they seem to have sent a clear signal that they are going to 
incorporate these weapons in their military arsenal both for short-
range, medium- and obviously perhaps even for long-range purposes.
  At a time when India needs to invest in education, when it needs to 
invest in its infrastructure, at a time when India really needs to 
reach peaceful agreements with its neighbor, Pakistan, on the issue of 
Kashmir, which is still a volatile issue. At a time when China and 
India need to get together to discuss their roles in South Asia in the 
future, India has thumbed its nose at its neighbors. When the 
Government of Pakistan came to power under the Prime Minister Nawaz 
Sharif, it reached out to India, to the previous government. Prime 
Minister Sharif held out the olive branch. He asked that talks be 
conducted, that they take steps to reduce the tensions in the region.
  Those talks proceeded, tensions were reduced, and then elections were 
held in India and a new government was elected. The hopes and the 
dreams, the actions taken by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz 
Sharif, and others in the region are now dashed and doomed if India 
doesn't make a quick U-turn in its policies. But India has already 
taken its actions, and its actions, I am afraid, will have very serious 
repercussions.
  But, again, we cannot give up. I know that Pakistan several times 
called for restraint, to call for talks.
  Well, I call on Pakistan and the other nations of the region not give 
up on their efforts to pursue a peaceful path, to again reach out to 
India to begin the long and arduous task of negotiations to reduce 
tensions and to reduce the nuclear arsenal in that area of the world.
  I remain fearful not only because of Pakistan but because of China. 
What will China do now? Will China believe that it must now proceed to 
further test its nuclear weapons to show India that it is not going to 
be intimidated? No, Mr. President, what India did yesterday will live 
in infamy, and it is sad because India has made great progress in the 
last 50 years. I note at this time the President has recalled our 
ambassador to India. I compliment him for that action.
  Quite frankly, I hope this sends another strong signal to India that 
it is not going to be business as usual with the U.S. Government 
because of what they did yesterday. It cannot be said too strongly that 
India took a terrible, terrible step yesterday and only India can undo 
it. I hope they will. But their words and their actions indicate to me 
they may and probably will not. I feel sorry for India. I feel sorry 
for the people of India. I feel sorry for the kids

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that are working in the plants and the factories and the carpet looms 
who want a better future and a better education. I feel sorry for the 
millions of people in poverty who want a little bit better life in 
India but are now going to have to struggle because more and more of 
their money is going into their weapons and their nuclear arsenal. And 
I feel sorry for the people of Pakistan, too, again, who have made 
great strides in the last 50 years to build a nation, to build an 
infrastructure that will allow for a moderate Islamic State to exist in 
that area, and I feel sorry for the people of China. What is its 
Government going to do now?
  Mr. President, we can only hope and pray that South Asia will now see 
this as a sign that they must get together and sign a comprehensive 
test ban treaty now, stop nuclear testing now, stop the arms race now; 
that India and China and Pakistan must get together and work out their 
problems through serious peaceful negotiations and not through the 
bluster of provocative actions taken by India yesterday to increase the 
arms race, especially the nuclear arms race.
  Mr. President, I call on India to disavow what they did yesterday, to 
admit they made a mistake, to reach out to their neighbors in a serious 
attempt to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and to stop this 
madness once and for all.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. FAIRCLOTH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 10 minutes 
in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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