January 14, 2008 (LPAC)--Today the Prime Ministers of China and India agreed to "promote bilateral cooperation in civil nuclear energy," and welcomed the opportunity for scientists from both sides to work together in the ITER international fusion energy project.

Lyndon LaRouche commented that his primary concern is to protect India's ability to develop the full nuclear cycle, including, most importantly, the ability to develop the thorium cycle. The latter is especially necessary in light of the severe water and other crises in India and elsewhere, which cannot be solved without the use of thorium, which it is the intention of the U.S. and Britain to squelch.

Thus, LaRouche asked, does the agreement mean that China and Russia will protect India's right to the full nuclear cycle including thorium? If thorium is denied, then it is a dirty deal. India must be allowed to proceed independently with the thorium cycle.

At this writing, the answer to that question is not known. In their joint statement issued today in Beijing, where Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is making his first visit, Singh and his Chinese host Wen Jiabao made these commitments, after talks that included private discussions beginning yesterday evening. The nuclear issue has been a tense one between the two Asian giants in the past, nominally over the questions of India's failure to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but in reality based on tensions going back to Cold War machinations from the early 1960s.

Today's statement says that the "two sides are convinced that it is in the common interest of the international community to establish an international energy order that is fair, equitable, secure and stable, and to the benefit of the entire international community."