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China called on India on Monday to take more steps to satisfy the standards of a global organisation that controls atomic exports, after US President Barack Obama said the United States was in favour of India joining the group.
Obama reaffirmed on the weekend the US position that India is ready for membership into the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), according to a US-India joint statement.
China's foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said India's admission to the group "requires very careful consideration from all the member countries".
"We support the group carrying out discussions on admitting new members and at the same time, we encourage India to take the next steps to satisfy the relevant standards of the group," Hua told a daily news briefing. She did not elaborate.
The United States, Britain and other members have argued in favour of India joining the organisation, established in 1975 to ensure civilian nuclear trade is not diverted for military aims. But India would be the only member of the suppliers' group that has not signed up to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a 189-nation treaty set up four decades ago to prevent states from acquiring nuclear weapons.
