US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI759

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 000759 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PLEASE PASS COMMERCE/BIS FOR MATT BORMAN AND NRC FOR 
COMMISSIONER MERRIFIELD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2014 
TAGS: PREL, KNNP, ETTC, TSPA, IN, NSSP 
SUBJECT: RESTORING MOMENTUM TO OUR NSSP RELATIONSHIP 
 
REF: NEW DELHI 72 
 
Classified By: DCM Robert O. Blake, Jr. for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
1. (C) MEA Joint Secretary Americas Jaishankar called in DCM 
and PolCouns on January 31 to reiterate his earlier message 
(reftel) regarding the likely impasse in our Next Steps in 
Strategic Partnership (NSSP) relationship if we are not able 
to achieve buy-in from key GOI scientific agencies that for 
now blame MEA for the shortfall between "the promise and the 
reality" of our high tech relationship.  Jaishankar 
acknowledged real progress under the NSSP, as demonstrated, 
for instance in the growing volume of licensed trade.  He 
characterized the Defense Research and Development 
Organization (DRDO) as the most "clued in" of the three key 
NSSP constituencies, but indicated that ISRO (space) and AEC 
(civil nuclear) were problematic.  Following up on our 
earlier encouragement for India to produce the draft export 
control documentation required for Phase 2 of NSSP, 
Jaishankar warned that he faced increasing opposition from 
AEC and to a lesser degree ISRO because of "question marks 
about commitment (to NSSP) on the US side." 
 
2. (C) Echoing earlier comments by the Prime Minister, 
Jaishankar emphasized that India in some areas could take 
steps on export control that surpass the US benchmarks. 
However, he reiterated, he had a sense that AEC in particular 
was starting to "disassociate itself" from the NSSP process, 
because of a perception that nothing was really changing in 
their relationship with the US. 
 
3. (C) Elaborating on this point, Jaishankar flagged two 
major areas of potential cooperation: 
 
-- On civil nuclear issues, India wants to address safety 
issues within the reactor island.  This will be a GOI focus 
during the upcoming visit by NRC Commissioner Meserve. 
Echoing Foreign Secretary Saran's November pitch to NSA Rice, 
Jaishankar also urged that the US not persist in blocking 
others (a reference to Russia and France) from their 
proposals for civil nuclear cooperation with India. 
 
-- On space, Jaishankar passed on a non-paper (full text para 
6) seeking a US non-objection for the Indian launch of a Thai 
earth observation satellite containing US scientific 
components.  He warned that US opposition to transactions of 
this sort ("killing their commercial prospects elsewhere") 
made it hard for him to build a constituency in ISRO for 
US-India space cooperation. 
 
Concluding, Jaishankar asked for an update of US 
deliberations on these issues, reiterating the GOI hope that 
Washington will consider steps to maintain momentum in the 
NSSP. 
 
4. (C) PolCouns noted that the NSSP is a two way street, with 
several steps outstanding that India could usefully take to 
maintain momentum behind the process, including the sharing 
of Indian export control legislation and completion of 
India's space cooperation wish list.  DCM also warned that a 
US reply on these issues could be delayed by the transition 
in Washington.  Jaishankar took these points, but reiterated 
that without a "forthcoming attitude on both sides" progress 
in the NSSP framework is likely to be slow. 
 
5. (C) Comment: Reftel laid out a series of possible steps to 
address GOI dissatisfaction with the nuclear leg of the NSSP, 
including Indian participation in ITER, other cooperation on 
nuclear fusion, or more robust safety collaboration with the 
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  Jaishankar acknowledged 
that US flexibility in these areas is constrained by US law 
and our NPT obligations, but also underlined that India wants 
to find common ground with the US, accepts the basic 
framework of NSSP quid-pro-quos, and hopes Washington will 
look again at options for deepening our civil nuclear 
cooperation. 
 
6. (U) Begin text, MEA non-paper: 
 
Astrium, a 100% subsidiary of EADS, is examining the launch 
of a Thai earth observation satellite, Theos, on the Indian 
PSLV.  Technically, the launch platform parameters appear to 
be appropriate. 
 
However, Theos contains some US components and there appear 
to be apprehensions, possibly misplaced, that USG may not 
give requisite clearance for such a launch. 
 
The conclusion of NSSP I and ongoing discussions on NSSP II 
have created a climate of confidence and understanding 
between GOI and USG.  It is GOI's expectation that USG would 
not have reservations on a launch proposal that has only 
commercial significance. 
 
Accordingly, GOI requests USG confirmation that it would not 
have objection to the proposed launch. End text. 
MULFORD