Indian Company Sanctioned for Proliferation

The United States levied sanctions February 4 against an Indian company and its president for aiding Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons programs. Under the sanctions, imports from NEC Engineers Private Ltd. and its successors or the company’s president, Hans Raj Shiv, are prohibited. In addition, the U.S. government may not buy goods or services from either the company or Shiv.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States imposed the penalties against the entities for “knowingly and materially contributing to Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons program.” Boucher refused to list the specific goods involved or to confirm whether Iraq received them. He noted, however, that Indian media has reported that NEC Engineers Private “sent 10 shipments containing titanium vessels, filters, titanium centrifugal pumps, atomized and spherical aluminum powder, and titanium anodes to Iraq.”

The sanctions “will remain in place for at least one year and until further notice,” according to the Federal Register, which published the decision February 11. This is not the first time Shiv has been penalized; in July 2002, the United States imposed sanctions against Shiv under the Iran-Iraq Arms Nonproliferation Act of 1992. (See ACT, September 2002.)

NEC Engineers Private was originally based in India but has expanded its operations into the Middle East and Eurasia, according to the Federal Register. Shiv once lived in India but is now believed to reside in the Middle East. The State Department noted that the Indian government has worked to stem proliferation-related trade by Indian companies. Boucher said India has conducted its own investigation and has arrested two principals of NEC Engineers Private and taken steps to prevent further illicit exports, but “NEC and Shiv have shifted operations to other locations.”

No Appeal in ABM Treaty Case

Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and 31 other members of the House of Representatives decided in mid-January not to appeal a federal judge’s dismissal of their lawsuit charging that President George W. Bush could not unilaterally withdraw the United States from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. The U.S. withdrawal from the treaty took effect last year on June 13.

Judge John D. Bates dismissed the lawsuit December 30, 2002. Bates contended that the 32 members could not claim to have suffered personal injuries by the president’s action; therefore they did not have the proper standing to bring a case before the court. He also argued that the issue of treaty withdrawal was a political question and not one for the courts to decide, as long as Congress had not asserted itself on the issue. Bates stated that the 32 representatives could not claim to represent the entire Congress. (See ACT, January/February 2003.)

The representatives decided against appealing the case largely because of what they believed were some positive aspects of the ruling, according to one of their lawyers. In his decision, Bates left open the question of whether congressional approval is needed for the United States to withdraw from a treaty and did not rule out the possibility that a court might need to make a judgment on such a question if the executive and legislative branches ever reached an impasse on it.

John Burroughs, an attorney for the representatives, noted in a February 19 interview that the decision sends a signal to Congress that “the space is there” for it to assert its role in the treaty withdrawal process.

Other considerations influencing the decision not to appeal included the possibility that a higher court might render a more unfavorable decision and a belief that a court would be less likely to challenge the president’s move as more time passes from when the withdrawal took effect.

China Buying Russian Combat Jets

China will acquire a third batch of advanced Su-30MKK fighter jets from Russia in a deal initially reported in January. The precise details of the buy remain secret, but China is expected to receive roughly two to three dozen of the combat aircraft, which will be armed with anti-ship missiles.

U.S. government officials would not confirm the new deal, which was reported by the Russian press and a trade journal, Jane’s Defense Weekly. The reported buy adds to China’s two previous purchases of the aircraft, totaling 76 Su-30MKKs, in 1999 and 2001. Since 1991, China has received between 48 and 72 Russian Su-27 combat aircraft, and it reached a 1996 deal to co-produce another 200 Su-27s in China, which the Pentagon said in July 2002 is “proceeding, albeit very slowly.” The uncertainty surrounding the exact number of aircraft delivered reflects the secrecy with which Russia and China attempt to conduct their arms trade.

China is a leading buyer of Russian arms, signing deals not only for combat aircraft but also for four Sovremennyy-class destroyers, armed with potent supersonic, sea-skimming anti-ship missiles, and four Kilo-class submarines in recent years. In its annual submissions to the UN Register of Conventional Arms, Moscow has reported exporting 104 combat aircraft, five attack helicopters, six warships, and 431 missiles and missile launchers to China between 1992 and 2001.

In a July 2002 report on Chinese military power, the Pentagon noted that Beijing is edging closer to Taiwan in terms of advanced, “fourth-generation” combat aircraft through China’s purchase of Russian fighters. Taiwan is estimated to have more than 300 fourth-generation fighters, including approximately 150 U.S. F-16A/B fighters, whereas China currently possesses around 100 modern combat aircraft.

Shirley Kan, a national security policy specialist at the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, said in a February 21 interview that she could not verify that the reported deal had been finalized, but she added that China has accelerated its military modernization effort, raising serious questions about continued stability in the Taiwan Strait and Beijing’s interest in reducing tensions with Taiwan.

U.S. Will Upgrade Missile Defense Radar in U.K.

London will permit the United States to upgrade a U.S. radar based on British territory in order to enable better tracking of ballistic missiles in flight, British Secretary of Defense Geoffrey Hoon announced February 5.

Located at Fylingdales, the early-warning radar is envisioned by the Bush administration as an important part of its missile defense efforts, tracking any missile launched from the Middle East or North Africa toward the United States. The radar cannot currently provide the quality of information that the United States wants, so the Bush administration asked London in December 2002 if work could be done to improve the radar.

At this time, the sole U.S. radar considered capable of providing some tracking capability of ballistic missiles to the Pentagon’s proposed missile defense system is in Alaska and fixed to face northwest toward Asia and Russia, offering no capability to help counter a missile traveling from the direction of the Near East. No country in that region is currently thought to possess a missile capable of striking the United States.

Hoon’s announcement marks an agreement in principle to allow the upgrades to take place. The two governments are negotiating a more formal memorandum of understanding, which is expected to include provisions enabling British companies to compete for work on the project.

Much of the upgrade will involve updating computer hardware and software. There will be no changes to the radar’s “external appearance or power output,” according to Hoon.

The defense secretary further stated that agreeing to the upgrade does not commit the United Kingdom to any additional cooperation with the United States on missile defenses. Hoon added, however, that the agreement does “keep open the prospect of acquiring missile defense capabilities for the U.K., should we desire such protection at some point in the future.”

Denmark has yet to reply to a similar U.S. request for a radar located on Greenland, which is Danish territory. A public hearing on the issue by the Danish parliament is set for April 23, and no reply is expected before then.

U.S. Concludes Ukraine Policy Review

The United States completed a review of U.S. policy toward Ukraine in mid-January, concluding that it is in the United States’ best interest to continue pursuing closer ties with Ukraine despite unresolved concerns about its possible export of military equipment to Iraq in violation of a 1990 UN arms embargo.

While describing U.S.-Ukrainian relations as going through their most difficult period since Ukraine’s 1991 independence from the Soviet Union, Steven Pifer, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, said in a February 13 speech that the United States must continue to engage Ukraine and not isolate it. He said the United States would focus on aiding Ukrainian economic and export control reforms, pursuing closer military ties, and bolstering Ukrainian civil society. The latter entails promoting democracy and freedom of the press in Ukraine, according to State Department officials.

This broad engagement, according to State Department spokesman Mark Toner, will take place even though Ukraine “has not satisfactorily answered all our questions” about President Leonid Kuchma’s July 2000 approval of an illicit export of the Kolchuga early-warning system to Iraq. (See ACT, October 2002.) Ukraine contends the export never took place, but a team of U.S. and British investigators who visited Ukraine for eight days last year reported, “The Government of Ukraine (GOU) failed to provide the team with satisfactory evidence that the transfer of a Kolchuga to Iraq could not or did not take place.”

Though the United States intends to pursue better relations with Ukraine, the Kolchuga affair is not going to be forgotten. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pascual noted in a January 9 speech in Washington that “trust has been eroded” between the United States and Ukraine. Another State Department official, who asked to remain anonymous, commented February 21 that the U.S. government intends to be “cautious in contacts with senior [Ukrainian] officials.”

All U.S. assistance to Ukraine during fiscal year 2002 totaled approximately $278 million. Fiscal year 2003 funding is expected to be a little less, but the precise amount is still being determined.

U.S., Japan Extend Missile Defense Cooperation

The United States and Japan finalized an agreement in late February to continue joint research on a sea-based missile defense system designed to intercept short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. Details of the agreement are scarce because its contents are to be kept confidential, according to a U.S. Defense Department official.

Joint U.S.-Japanese cooperation on missile defense began in 1999. The two countries agreed to work together on creating a new nose cone, a second-stage propulsion system, an infrared seeker, and a hit-to-kill warhead for the Standard Missile-3. The Standard Missile-3 is the missile used in the U.S. sea-based missile defense system, which successfully destroyed targets in three intercept tests in 2002, although a recent Pentagon report described the tests as “simplistic.” (See ACT, March 2003.)

Under the new agreement, this past cooperation will continue and include future flight tests. The Japanese government, however, has not yet decided whether it will continue cooperation beyond the research phase to actual development and deployment.

New Agency for Chem-Demil Program Created

The U.S. Army has started to implement a major restructuring of its program to destroy chemical weapons in an effort to streamline the demilitarization process. The Army announced February 18 the creation of the provisional Chemical Materials Agency (CMA), which is expected to become an official Army organization by October.

The new agency will be in charge of both demilitarization and storage responsibilities, which were previously conducted separately under the Chemical Demilitarization Program and the Soldier Biological and Chemical Command. A CMA spokesman said February 25 that the reorganization will increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Michael Parker, currently deputy commander of the Soldier Biological and Chemical Command, has been chosen to be the CMA’s acting director. The Chemical Weapons Working Group, an umbrella civil organization that opposes incineration of chemical weapons, welcomed Parker’s leadership of the new agency. The group expressed hope that his reputation for increasing transparency will help to improve relations, which have sometimes been rocky, between the Army’s program and the communities near weapons destruction sites.