"We hope that the bilateral settlement will lead to an impetus for new China-U.S. talks," Mr. Obuchi said tonight after a two-day visit here.

That's no longer necessary, New Delhi argues, because Kashmiris can vote in local elections and because a defeated Pakistan signed a 1972 accord in Simla committing the two countries to a bilateral settlement.

We welcome the fact that it is not simply a resumption of the NTM project, which project was particularly dangerous because of its aim of guaranteeing free trade in services and because it favoured bilateral settlements, at the risk of stifling multilateral progress.