As a crucial meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) next week in Vienna is set to deliberate on admitting non-NPT members, India on Thursday hoped China will see the “logic” in its entry into the 48-nation grouping. China has been staunchly opposed to India’s NSG membership bid.
When asked about the upcoming NSG meeting, ministry of external affairs (MEA) spokesperson Vikas Swarup said it was for members of the grouping to take a call on India’s application.
According to news agency reports, NSG special envoy Rafael Grossi is likely to place a proposal for admitting non-NPT members into the bloc during the grouping’s meeting in Vienna on November 11-12. “It is not really for us to comment as we are not inside the room. However, after the NSG Plenary in Seoul, we have had continued conversations with the NSG members. We have lodged our application. Now it is for the NSG members to consider it and take a decision,” Mr Swarup said. Asked about China’s position on India’s membership bid, he said both sides had “fruitful talks” recently and hoped that “China will eventually support India’s bid”. Incidentally, India’s NSA Ajit Doval and China’s State Counsellor will meet for talks in Hyderabad on Friday where a range of bilateral, regional and global issues are likely to be discussed. Joint secretary (Disarmament and International Security) Amandeep Singh Gill and his Chinese counterpart Wang Qun had held talks on the NSG issue in Beijing last week. China had said it will first find a solution that applies to all non-NPT countries seeking entry into NSG before discussing India’s application.
“As you know we had second round of fruitful talks between the head of our disarmament and international security affairs division and Chinese lead negotiator on the NSG issue. Both sides have very freely discussed their positions,” Mr Swarup said.
