The Narendra Modi government on Friday suffered a diplomatic defeat when the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) turned down New Delhi’s bid to enter the club unless it were to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
While New Delhi singled out China for putting “persistent” hurdles in India’s path, the issue turned into a political embarrassment for the PM and his government.
Retired diplomats and opposition parties criticised the government’s strategy. They argued that the country specific NSG waiver India had received in 2008 had successfully de-hyphenated India and Pakistan on the issue of nuclear commerce.
Islamabad had then been denied a similar waiver. But the government’s recent diplomatic offensive for NSG undid the success of 2008. It again hyphenated India and Pakistan on the issue of NSG membership, since both the countries are not signatories to the NPT.
China, in particular, succeeded in equating New Delhi and Islamabad. This is when India has had an impeccable record in the sector compared to Pakistan’s patchy record —its nuclear scientist A Q Khan had leaked nuclear secrets to North Korea. Congress leader Anand Sharma said the PM should realise diplomacy needs “depth and seriousness and not public tamasha”.
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: “PM Modi has completely failed on foreign policy front.He owes explanation on what did he did on his foreign jaunts?” His reference was to reports on Switzerland opposing India’s entry.
Modi had visited Switzerland earlier this month and the Swiss President had assured his country’s support to India at NSG. BJP Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy demanded “investigation” into the vote against India by the Swiss and Brazil at the NSG special session in Seoul .
Until recently, sources in the government were advising the media to not demonise China. South Block, evidence to the contrary in the shape of China’s public statements notwithstanding, was somehow hopeful. During his visit to China in May, President Pranab Mukherjee had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to give the issue “personal attention”.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had been dispatched to Beijing on June 16-17, and the PM had “devoted” much of his 50 minute long talks with Xi in Tashkent on Thursday on the issue. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had even stated confidently that New Delhi will be able to “persuade” China.
On Friday, after India’s hopes crashed against the Great Wall of China, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a statement which singled out its northern neighbour for putting “persistent” hurdles in the way of New Delhi’s entry to the club. In Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it was guided by the NSG rules which were not directed against any specific country. It also advocated an “out of the box” thinking to arrive at a consensus over the issue of entry of non-NPT countries into the NSG.
The Chinese spokesperson insisted that the entry of India was not on the agenda of the plenary session and asked media outlets to give out all facts “to avoid misleading the public”. In a statement, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said that discussions at the NSG on expansion of membership were “certainly not hypothetical”.
“We understand that despite procedural hurdles persistently raised by one country, a three hour long discussion took place last night on the issue” and “an overwhelming number” supported India’s membership. On the question that India should join the NPT, Swarup said the issue was settled by NSG itself when it gave India a country specific waiver in 2008 and recognized that India contributes to the “widest possible implementation of the provisions and objectives of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons”.
“India believes that an early decision on its application remains in larger global interest,” Swarup said. In Washington, the US doled out hope for India. A top Obama administration official, who didn't want to be named, said: “We are confident that we have got a path forward by the end of this year. It needs some work but we are confident that India would be a full member of the NSG regime by the end of the year.”
