Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon thought presentation of inspection regime needed rewriting
More than the substance of on-site inspections, the Indian government was worried about the public reaction to American inspectors getting access to the Prime Minister's plane, American officials dealing with the matter of end-use monitoring for the VVIP Boeing jets concluded. On May 14, Ambassador David Mulford met Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon to discuss the matter and “urged him to begin ‘sensible negotiations' to resolve the enhanced end-use monitoring (EEUM) arrangements for the VVIP jets quickly (153810, May 14, 2008, confidential). The cable quotes Mr. Menon saying he had been through the proposed amendment and that he felt “there are ‘no insurmountable difficulties in reaching an understanding that would meet your requirements and ours'.”
‘Reassuring’
Though Mr. Menon “found the amendment ‘reassuring,' because the details that it laid out [for keeping the LAIRCM secure] mirror those that the Indian government also wishes to enforce”, Ambassador Mulford wrote. “We have a huge interest to make sure it is well protected — not just by us but by others — and we have no problem with high standards, the Foreign Secretary stressed. At the same time, notes the Ambassador, “Menon also pointed out that, because the aircraft attracts high-level political attention, the presentation of the inspections regime needed rewrQing [sic]”.
Mr. Mulford ended his cable with the following comment: “At no point in the conversation did Menon reject inspections, and he appeared resigned to on-site verification, as shown by his acceptance of a site visit by negotiators. The problems that the Foreign Secretary saw in the US' proposed amendment dealt primarily with the cosmetic presentation it seemed, which he believes gives the impression of associating the VVIP aircraft, and by extension the Indian Government, too closely with the U.S.”
The Indian stake
In a meeting with Mr. Mulford (155283, May 23, 2008, confidential), the NSA “agreed that the Indian government had a stake in protecting the LAIRCM's technology, and he recognized that if the U.S. and India prolong negotiations over the EEUM, ‘our Prime Minister will not have a plane'.” But, he insisted, “We need to work in a manner that provides comfort to both sides.” Mr. Mulford ended his cable with the observation that “As Narayanan makes clear, on-site U.S. inspections of the prime minister's jet make the Indian government pause”. The risk, he wrote, is “that the UPA government's opponents might use the image of U.S. officials tramping around the Indian head of state's plane to garner votes in the upcoming general elections”.
Such an image “fits into the campaign messages already espoused by the opposition BJP, which accuses the government of an overriding weakness, and the Communists, who denounce the growing friendship with the U.S. But our willingness to resolve the issue in New Delhi at a high level could help alleviate the Indians' anxiety and point the way towards a middle ground that protects both the LAIRCM and the UPA government”.
(This article is a part of the series "The India Cables" based on the US diplomatic cables accessed by The Hindu via Wikileaks.)
Keywords: Cable153810, cable155283, The India Cables, WikiLeaks, Cablegate, VVIP Boeing jets, David Mulford, Shivshankar Menon
Already a lot has come out from the leaky transcripts.In a larger sense what emanates repeatedly is how weak and malleable our country is. But to a reasonable reader none of this is new or difficult to understand. At even at a general level the Indian in the street also sinks meek in front of an American. Every middle class mother dreams of her child migrating to the US, a young girl no doubt prefers a green carder in matrimony, the academician prides in possession of western degrees, most public servants and professionals deviously plan trips abroad at work. The other thing that is not so well known to the public at large is about our science and technology establishments. Again most of it is not self standing. The bigwigs there do more strategy and surreptitious deals than science or technology. The entire edifice stands dumb and spiritless on borrowed equipment, knowhow and mere drills in marginal tinkering to make loud laurels. So it's not about stature but handling sophistication is impractical here. The character we show as a collective does not appear in us as individuals. This is not to say that we are lesser humans, but strangely we could not demonstrate as a country attributes of pride and competence. May be we are taking more time to be there than others or is it a serious DNA issue?
It is sad that the sovereign nation is humiliated by State dept. We should not worry about buying the plane. Our PM is safe and well protected even today.
I believe this plane was made by Boeing, not US goverment. Why is a US diplomat so interested in this deal, there is something fishy defenitely. I do not think we have any technology to verify what are the communication equipment attached with this plane, probably US know each and every movement of our VVIPs.
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