“Outcomes are always uncertain”.
Advertisement
In an unusual move, China’s state media today defended Pakistan’s nuclear record, saying it was A Q Khan who was responsible for atomic proliferation which was not backed by the government and argued that any exemption to India for NSG entry should also be given to Pakistan.
“The source of conflicts comes from the dilemma of such mechanisms in accepting both India and Pakistan”, the article said. “In Seoul this year there is no such topic”, Ms. Hua said.
AS INDIA makes a determined bid to get membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday said that China was not opposing its entry even as Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar made an unannounced visit to Beijing on June 16-17 to secure its support. New Delhi hopes several countries will raise the question of its membership and force China to take a stand, the diplomats said.
India’s case for NSG membership is being strongly pushed by the United States, which has written to other members to support India’s bid at the plenary meeting of the group in Seoul.
At a separate news conference, the State Department reiterated the same. “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.
State Department spokesperson John Kirby said in a press briefing that the usa has not changed its stand regarding India’s membership in the elite group. But there are no indications that Beijing would scale down its opposition to India’s membership as the Chinese are against the idea of the NSG making an exception for India.
The state-run Global Times daily in an opinion piece this week said that China could support India’s inclusion to the elite nuclear club if New Delhi “played by the rules”.
India’s entry to the NSG will help in taking a call on meeting its energy needs, though a waiver has been given to it in 2008 on technology transfers. India is the only non-NPT country that has garnered the support of most of the NSG’s members, and also the only non-NPT country to have been granted a waiver for civilian nuclear cooperation with the USA, in 2008. “It is open. But the members of the NSG should stay focussed on whether the criteria should be changed and whether non-NPT members should be admitted into the NSG”, she said. India has been reaching out to NSG member countries seeking support for its entry.
Advertisement
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is a group of 48 nuclear supplier countries that seeks to contribute to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons through the implementation of two sets of Guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports.
