'We will continue to work on the nuclear deal'

OPINION/ Condoleezza Rice

QUESTION: Secretary Rice, if the US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation deal is not completed and sent to Congress by July, do you think you will simply have to give up on it for this Administration, given the electoral calendar?

And Mr Minister, have you made any progress in your talks with your Communist allies to obtain their approval for the deal?

Secretary Rice, if you could just quickly address Tibet? I don't think we have had a chance to hear you talk ""squarely address the question of whether the Chinese authorities have used excessive force there. And have there been any more unauthorised passport inquiries?

RICE: First of all, we have had a brief discussion of what we consider to be a landmark agreement, the Civil Nuclear Cooperation agreement with India, which I believe would be good for both sides and good for the future of non-proliferation, as many experts, including Mohamed ElBaradei, have said. And so we will continue to work on that agreement. The Indians are now in a process of working with the IAEA and we will follow that progress, but we will have further discussions on that matter later. We spoke principally this morning about various regional issues of concern to both sides.

On Tibet, let me just say that we believe that the answer for Tibet is to have a more sustainable policy for the Chinese government concerning Tibet. I have spoken to my counterpart about the current situation in which there needs to be restraint, in which violence is not acceptable, but there also needs to be a day after the current events.

And that really requires a sustainable process of dealing with the problems of Tibet, and the grievances of Tibetans. And we believe that the Dalai Lama could play a very favourable role, given his belief in non-violence, given his stated position that he does not seek political independence for Tibet, and given his unassailable, authoritative moral stature not just with the people of Tibet, but with people from around the world.

MUKHERJEE: Thank you. In (inaudible), as Secretary Rice has pointed out, we are interested in implementing the landmark agreement, which we finalised during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and followed by subsequent visit of President Bush in India. But we have some political problems in our country. Currently, we are engaged in resolving those problems. Out of four stages, 123 Agreement between India and the US has been signed. For the second stage, which is to have the approval of the Board of Governors of the IAEA in respect of India's specific safeguard agreement, we are currently engaged with the IAEA. The discussions are over, but the agreements are yet to be initialed and approved by the Board of Governors. In that stage, we are currently engaged with various political parties who are supporters of our coalition government in India. And the discussion is still going on.

QUESTION: Dr Rice, what is your take on the latest challenge in Indo-US relations? I mean, Speaker Pelosi's indiscretion in criticizing China on Indian soil, which many Indians have disapproved of.

RICE: Well, let me first set aside the premise that there is some problem in Indo-US relations. I don't believe that there is. Speaker Pelosi spoke with the Dalai Lama, as the President has spoken with the Dalai Lama, most recently in October when he was here to receive a Congressional Medal of Honor, our highest civilian medal. He is somebody who is respected. The Speaker respects him. The President respects him. And at this particular point in time, to have contact with him, I think, is a good thing, not a bad thing because he is a moderate voice on these issues and he is a voice that, frankly, I hope, the Chinese will listen to more.

(Exceprts from the press conference of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee in Washington on March 24, 2008)