U.S. WARNS OF SANCTIONS IF INDIA TESTS NUCLEAR DEVICE.

Byline: Associated Press 

India's reported plan to deploy a nuclear-capable missile and indications that the South Asian country may be preparing to conduct a nuclear test explosion are troubling the Clinton administration.

Diplomats are tactfully advising New Delhi of their worries. Indian officials are being reminded that a virtual cutoff of U.S. economic assistance would result if they push ahead with India's second nuclear blast in two decades.

An Indian news agency reported Saturday that the Prithvi medium-range missile, a surface-to-surface weapon effective as far as 155 miles, would undergo its 14th flight test soon. Prithvi's range would reach targets in Pakistan and China, neighbors with which India has fought wars.

India also has tested a long-range Agni missile, which has a 1,500-mile range.

"We have made our concerns well-known," State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said Wednesday. "Deployment or acquisition of ballistic missile delivery systems by India or Pakistan would be destabilizing, and we think it would undermine the security of both countries and of the region."

The administration also is registering concern over signs that India may be preparing to conduct another nuclear test explosion. India said the first one, in 1974 beneath the Rajasthan desert 340 miles southwest of New Delhi, was for peaceful research.

Burns and other U.S. officials said India is aware that a second test could have major economic repercussions.

Under legislation passed in 1994, the United States automatically would cease virtually all aid. The amendment is directed at all nations other than those who have declared they have nuclear weapons.