India has a solid nonproliferation record: US
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Describing India's non-proliferation record as 'solid', the US refused to express any concern on the country's nuclear-capable Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile launch.
"India has a solid nonproliferation record. They're engaged with the international community on non- proliferation issues. And Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh has attended both of the nuclear security summits, the one in Washington and then Seoul," the State Department spokesperson, Mark Toner, told reporters at his daily news conference.
"We urge all nuclear-capable states to exercise restraint regarding nuclear capabilities. That said, you know, India has a solid nonproliferation record," Toner said.
"So you wouldn't have any specific concerns on it as a destabilising factor in the region?" he was asked again.
"I'll just stay with, you know, the fact that we always caution all nuclear-capable states to exercise restraint," Toner responded.
"We have got a very strong strategic and security partnership with India. So we obviously have routine discussions about a wide range of topics, including their defense requirements. I'm not aware that we've specifically raised this issue with them," he said.
"We've certainly seen the reports that between April 18th and 20th that they plan to test this ballistic missile," he said.
"I understand there are some press reports that it was postponed. You know, naturally, I just would say that we urge all nuclear-capable states to exercise restraint regarding nuclear capabilities," the State Department spokesperson said.
The test flight of nuclear-capable Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile 'Agni-V, which would have put India in an elite group of four nations with ICBM launch capabilties and had the potential to strike targets deep in China, was put off due to bad weather.
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