The Hindu : National : ``Ties with U.S. have never been better''

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 09, 2005

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National

``Ties with U.S. have never been better''

NEW DELHI, APRIL 8. The External Affairs Minister, K. Natwar Singh, has said that India-U.S. relations "have never been better" despite the American decision to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.

"Our relationship has reached a level of maturity where we can live with our differences without our fundamental friendly good relations being affected adversely. Our relations with the United States have reached a different dimension. The relations have never been better," Mr Singh said in an interview to BBC World.

Commenting on the change of his stance regarding the U.S., he said, "That was old Natwar; this is new Natwar." When in the Opposition, Mr. Singh wrote that as a non-aligned country, India could not be the natural ally of a NATO power such as the U.S.

"We are not in the game of becoming a world power," he said expressing disagreement over a statement by a senior State Department official that the U.S. was willing to help India to develop into a major world power in the 21st century.

Expressing unhappiness over the situation in Nepal, Mr. Singh said, "The emergency should be ended. It is a very distressing situation. We are a very large country [and] we have to be excessively sensitive to the feelings of the Nepalese people and the Nepalese establishment." "It is a game of diplomatic patience and we have to use maximum restraint. We are deeply interested in the welfare of the Nepalese people. We are deeply interested in containing the vast insurgency."

"No redrawing of map"

India was open to all options that Pakistan could offer, except redrawing the map and having a second partition, Mr. Singh said. "Our composite dialogue with Pakistan is progressing very satisfactorily. I have never seen a better atmosphere on both sides of the Indo-Pak border." On the launch of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, he said it was a very significant development.

— UNI

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