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Congressional foreign relations panel chief backs India on N-tests

Congressional foreign relations committee chairman Benjamin Gilman last night supported the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government's argument by saying that India's nuclear tests were, to a large degree, in response to its dangerous neighbourhood.

''China occupies Tibet on India's northern border and has nuclear weapons there, Beijing supplies billions of arms to Myanmar military junta on India's eastern border and assists authoritarian Pakistan with nuclear and ballistic technology on India's Western border,'' he said while speaking at a dinner organised by the Indian-American Friendship Council.

He said India's Defence Minister George Fernandes had said time and again that the real source of instability in the region is China. Regrettably, some US foreign policy-makers keep framing the issue of India's security needs in the familiar Cold War theories that pitted India against Pakistan, he added.

He said China had been trying to keep India off balance by pressuring India from all sides. ''It sells nuclear and ballistic missile technology to Pakistan, it has sold more than a billion dollars or arms to Myanamar and it has positioned a huge military force in Tibet,'' he added.

Gilman said the state department was fudging facts to aviod sanctioning and confronting China.

''In addition to mischief, there are distressing reports on how US assistance to Communist China may have helped Beijing develop a multiple individual re-entry vehicle,'' he added.

UNI

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