External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said she hoped there would be a consensus soon for India’s membership to sail through.
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India and Pakistan, both are bidding for the membership to NSG, with New Delhi already being backed by many countries, including the US, and Islamabad by Beijing.
“China and other countries oppose to NSG including India while excluding Pakistan, because it means solving India’s problem but creating another bigger problem”.
Fielding questions on India-Pakistan relations, she said while bilateral ties are “jatil” (complicated), New Delhi was firm that talks and terrorism can not go together.
Pouring cold water on India’s NSG bid, China said that no such agenda was on Seoul’s plenary meeting. I am hopeful that we will be able to convince China as well to support our entry to the NSG, ” she told reporters here while highlighting her ministry’s achievements in the last two years.
“While India strives for NSG inclusion, it prevents Pakistan from joining by insisting on the latter’s bad record of nuclear proliferation”.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting this week, when the NSG issue is expected to be taken up.
India on Sunday said that ties with Pakistan were complicated and made it clear that talks and terrorism could not go together.
Asked about Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar’s quiet visit to Beijing last week, the spokesperson said India pitched for its inclusion in the NSG and the two sides exchanged ideas about it. “Responsible” India can not, of course, criticise Washington’s irresponsible nuclear behaviour since it has depended on it to promote its membership of the NSG and because of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
China raised a red flag on India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), saying NSG members will arrive at a consensus on admitting countries that have not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The access to the NSG, which regulates the global trade of nuclear technology, is expected to open up the worldwide market for energy-starved India, which has an ambitious energy generation programme.
The United States has called upon members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to throw their weight behind India for getting membership in the elite club.
The US has strongly backed India’s bid and so have Britain, Russia and Switzerland.
She referred to Modi’s unannounced visit to Lahore in December past year and Sharif’s phone call to the Indian prime minister a day ahead of the latter’s heart surgery in London last month to highlight the warmth in relationship between the two leaders.
India has been reaching out to NSG member countries seeking support for its entry.
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India, Ms Swaraj added, was trying to ensure that it becomes a member of the NSG by the end of this year.
