Notwithstanding the US' strong backing for India to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group, China today harped on the need for consensus in the elite body where it is reportedly pushing for Pakistan's entry.
"The NSG has made serious political and technical standards with regard to accepting members. One compulsory standard is that the NSG members must be signatory states to the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT)," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said here.
Asked what is the criteria that China wants non-NPT members to follow to get admitted to the 48-member NSG and on what basis it carried on with civil nuclear cooperation with Pakistan, Hong said like other non-proliferation regimes NSG is also based on the NPT.
"This year's consensus which has long upheld by the international community and was also reaffirmed in last year's NPT review session," he said skirting any references to Pakistan which has received a number of China-made nuclear reactors including the two of 1,100 MW being installed in Karachi plant.
India, Pakistan, Israel and South Sudan are among four UN member states which have not signed the NPT, the international pact aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. The NSG has already granted an exclusive waiver for India in 2008 to access civil nuclear technology after China reluctantly backed India's case based on the Indo-US nuclear deal.
According to reports from the US, China is equating Pakistan's case with India now and also wants its close ally to be admitted into the NSG despite Islamabad's questionable record on non-proliferation.
"All multilateral non-proliferation regimes, including the NSG, take NPT membership as the requirement to accept new members. China together with the other NSG members believes that with regard to accepting the membership of non-NPT countries, the NSG members should discuss this based on the NSG rules and standards and make decisions on consensus," Hong said.
Asked about State Department spokesman John Kirby's comments that India meets missile technology control regime requirements and is ready for NSG membership, Hong said "We have noted such reports," but did not comment on India's case.
"China supports and played a constructive role in the discussion recently held in NSG. China also states that such position targets no particular country and this position applies to all non-NPT countries. China sticks to this position in order to maintain international nuclear non-proliferation regime based on the NPT," he said.
The US recognised New Delhi as a "major defence partner"
during Modi's recent visit, meaning that the White House has given India the treatment as a US military ally, it said.
The article said that over the years, the US has been "bending the rules" to back India's nuclear projects.
"Against the backdrop of Washington's accelerated pace of promoting its pivot to the Asia-Pacific region, it will be highly likely to keep supporting New Delhi's nuclear ambitions, in order to make it a stronger power to contain China," it said.
The attitude of the US has had and will undoubtedly have an impact on some other nations. For those countries which also wish to put a finger in the pie of India's market, many of them begin to back India's NSG membership, or at least not oppose it, the article said in apparent reference to majority of the countries in the NSG supporting India's entry.
"However, as a country that has signed neither the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) nor the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), India is not yet qualified for accession into the NSG," it said.
"That's why the bloc is still divided over the case, and countries including New Zealand, Ireland, Turkey, South Africa and Austria have expressed their firm objections to India's membership," it said.
The article made no mention of problems faced by Pakistan in getting into the NSG due to its past record of proliferating the nuclear technology to Iran and North Korea, where as India is seeking entry into group based on clean non-proliferation record.
"As a crucial defender of the international system against nuclear proliferation, China does not wish to see the political and legal foundation of global nuclear security to be challenged by any party who does not abide by rules," the article said without referring to Beijing's own nuclear power cooperation with Islamabad in supplying a number of nuclear reactors, including two 1100 mw reactors currently under construction in Karachi.
"For those countries that are developing nuclear technology without the acceptance of the international community, perhaps counting them into the non-proliferation mechanism will better safeguard nuclear security," it said.
But at the same the article said China backs India's entry if a fair and just principle is worked out through consensus.
"Yet before that, a fair and just principle must be made through common consensus of all current members of the NSG, rather than the US and India's reckless pushing at the cost of rule-breaking".
"So far, all NSG members have signed the NPT. So the question is, if any non-signatory of the treaty wants to join the group, under what condition can it be accepted? If such a standard is to be made one day, then it will be possible for both India and Pakistan to become part of the group," it said.
"Beijing welcomes New Delhi playing a role as a major power in global governance, including producing positive effect in a nuclear non-proliferation organisation," it said.
"As long as all NSG members reach a consensus over how a non-NPT member could join the NSG and India promises to comply with stipulations over the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons while sticking to its policy of independence and self-reliance, China could support New Delhi's path toward the club," it said.
