India’s application is now expected to be taken up in a meeting in Seoul on June 20.
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India has become the 35 country to be admitted to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), a major worldwide anti-proliferation group of which Russian Federation is a key member. It would also infuriate India’s rival Pakistan, which responded to India’s membership bid with one of its own and has the backing of its close ally China.
However, reports from Vienna said that China was leading the opposition to India’s membership.
India’s diplomatic drive in Vienna to gain access to the exclusive Nuclear Suppliers Group gained some momentum on Thursday with the softening up of some of the opposition but China was holding out in defiance.
India has nuclear weapons and has never signed the treaty. Experts feel that China is using Pakistan as a “shield” to block India’s entry into the NSG despite India’s immaculate record in the sphere of nuclear non-proliferation and that Beijing’s ploy seems to be to place India and Pakistan in the same basket despite Islamabad’s dubious nuclear proliferation record. But China, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Turkey and Austria opposed the move.
On his part, the Prime Minister thanked the Mexican President for his countrys support and called Mexico an important partner for Indias energy security. India’s inclusion would be “a slap in the face of the entire non-proliferation regime”, said one diplomat, as quoted by The Times of India. Hence, Pakistan’s constant claim that India’s entry into the NSG would propel a huge nuclear arms race in South Asia is just fear-mongering.
Mexico was among those countries, including China, that held the stand that a country seeking NSG membership should be a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“Pakistan has the expertise, manpower, infrastructure and the ability to supply NSG controlled items, goods and services for a full range of nuclear applications for peaceful uses”, Tasnim Aslam, head of the United Nations desk at the foreign office, was quoted to have said.
The NSG looks after critical issues relating to nuclear sector and its members are allowed to trade in and export nuclear technology.
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Marking a big upswing in India-US relations in the last two years, the upshot of Modi’s tête-à-tête with “my friend Barack” at the White House Tuesday was that the “good story continues” in the words of Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar. “We are engaging all NSG members regarding this issue”, said Jaishankar, at a media briefing last Friday.
