 "India's membership not on NSG meeting agenda: China")
China on Monday said the members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) were divided over India's entry since it wasn't a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The Chinese foreign ministry said the issue of India's membership to the 48-member group wasn't even on the agenda of the NSG's plenary meeting in Seoul.
In New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was yet to officially respond to the statement from Beijing till this paper went to press. Neither did it confirm or deny reports that Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will be travelling to Seoul on Friday. All that government sources in New Delhi were willing to say was that they remained optimistic. The five-day NSG meeting began in Seoul on Monday.
Jaishankar was in Beijing on June 16-17 to discuss with his Chinese counterpart the issue of India's membership to the NSG. The comments by the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry came barely 24 hours after Sushma Swaraj, external affairs minister, said that India was confident about persuading Beijing to support its membership bid to nuclear exports control group.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to travel to Tashkent to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit on June 23-24. He is likely to have discussions on the sidelines with Chinese President Xi Jinping there. The key NSG meeting, where India's membership application is likely to be taken up, is to be held on June 24.
The Chinese position is a setback to India's recent diplomatic offensive to build a consensus among NSG member states. India's efforts have been supported by the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia and several other countries. China is one of nearly half a dozen countries that oppose India's entry, saying that only NPT-signatory states should be allowed membership.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying Beijing said: "We understand that non-NPT countries are concerned about their entry into the NSG. But since NSG is still divided about the issue, so it is still not mature to talk about the entry issue in the annual conference in Seoul."
"China maintains that NSG should have through discussion on the joining of the non-NPT countries in a way agreed by all parties, so as to make a decision based on agreement. This position is not directed against any country and applies to all non-NPT states," Hua said. On Sunday, Swaraj had said that China wasn't opposed to India's entry but its concerns were about processes and criterion.
The NSG regulates the global trade in nuclear technology. An entry to the club will give India opportunity to take part in framing of rules on nuclear trade.
