AGREEMENT SEALED: Visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (left) and Indian Minister for External Affairs S. M. Krishna sign three agreements in New Delhi on July 20 (XINHUA/AFP)

On July 21, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton completed her five-day trip to India. The two sides reached several agreements during the visit. The most important one was an accord in which the United States agreed to build two new nuclear power stations in India.

Clinton was the highest-ranking official to visit India since Barack Obama assumed the presidency in January.

As early as June, she stressed that the U.S.-India relationship should be upgraded from Version 2.0 of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to Version 3.0. Not surprisingly, her trip was widely considered as a landmark in improving U.S.-India relations.

Clinton and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed on a number of issues during their meeting. The two sides, in particular, signed three important documents—setting up a strategic dialogue mechanism, reaching an agreement on "end-user monitoring" and creating an agreement on scientific and technological cooperation.

Through establishing a strategic dialogue mechanism, the two sides will deal with non-proliferation, antiterrorism and military cooperation through working groups.

Both nations moved toward a common understanding and removed obstacles for India's purchase of advanced weaponry, especially advanced fighter planes.

According to their agreement related to end-user monitoring, the United States is allowed to retain supervision of the usage of advanced weapons it plans to sell to India, so as to prevent these weapons from falling into the hands of other countries or other non-state actors.

India also promised to set aside land for two sites in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, respectively, on which U.S. companies may build nuclear power stations. This cooperation, in particular, is a signal that, Washington and New Delhi have finally stepped into the practical stage of their civil nuclear energy cooperation.

A long-awaited deal

India and the United States carried out rounds of difficult nuclear cooperation negotiations several years ago.

On July 18, 2005, both India and the United States issued a joint statement declaring a resumption of full cooperation in the field of civil nuclear energy.

Then, in March 2006, the two sides signed an agreement on nuclear energy cooperation. The Indian side consented to separate its military and civil nuclear programs and, in addition, opened its civil nuclear energy program to monitoring by outside inspectors.

In exchange, the United States offered nuclear material and technologies to help India to develop its civil nuclear energy program. Thus, on August 3, 2007, Washington and New Delhi publicized the U.S.-India Agreement for Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a non-governmental organization formed by 45 nuclear suppliers, carried out deliberations on whether India had the right to import nuclear material and technologies in August 2008. Austria, Ireland, New Zealand and Switzerland raised over 50 items of qualified opinions, leaving the first round of negotiations deadlocked.

Washington and New Delhi finished a modified draft on August 28 after an urgent discussion. The amendment was concerned most about questions upon which the other countries had different opinions.

The two sides made compromises on sensitive questions. At the same time, Indian Prime Minister Singh and then Indian Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee lobbied all countries holding objections to change their stances.

To allay these doubts, Mukherjee even announced the day before the negotiations resumed that India was willing to unilaterally suspend nuclear tests and not to transfer sensitive technologies to other countries.

Washington reacted strongly to doubts about India's nuclear plan, announcing that countries must either support the agreement wholly, or see all previous efforts go to waste by seeing India quit from the non-proliferation regime.

At a special meeting in Vienna, Austria on September 6, 2008, the NSG adopted a statement on civil nuclear cooperation with India, removing NSG sanctions against India and allowing its members to make nuclear fuel and technologies available to the country, mainly owing to U.S. diplomatic persistence and Indian lobbying.

Soon after, the U.S. Congress approved the U.S.-India civilian nuclear agreement. The agreement later took effect following President Bush's final approval, cementing a legal basis on civil nuclear cooperation between India and the United States.

A step forward

India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). In May 1998, it conducted five continuous nuclear tests citing threats from China.

Its behavior infuriated the international community. The five permanent UN Security Council members unanimously approved Resolution 1172, strongly condemning India's actions. Shortly thereafter, Western countries, led by the United States, declared a series of sanctions against India.

Under international law, countries that have not signed the NPT have no right to acquire nuclear material and technologies from other countries—thus India had been in an "isolated" state.

As such a country, under international law, India did not have a mandate to act like a nuclear power. It was also unable to generate enough nuclear power to meet growing domestic energy demands.

Now, based on its nuclear agreement with the United States, India can not only be admitted as a nuclear country, but will also receive U.S. nuclear technologies and equipment—thus increasing the power supply in one of the world's most populous nations.

In other words, thanks to the United States, India has scored both political points and energy benefits through breaking out of nuclear isolation.

For natural reasons, India is an oil-lean country. Its energy self-sufficiency is relatively low, with some 80 percent of domestic energy demands reliant on oil imports. Observers have estimated that this figure soon may exceed 90 percent, because of the country's skyrocketing demand.

Therefore, developing nuclear power is necessary to change its energy structure and ease energy supply tensions.