Destination NSG: PM Modi seeks China's support as members differ on India's entry

Tashkent: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged China to support India’s NSG bid, but there was no breakthrough on the issue at the meeting of the 48-nation grouping in the face of stiff Chinese-led opposition. As Modi and the powerful Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Tashkent, some 5,000 km away in the South Korean capital, India’s case, although not on the formal agenda, came up at a special post-dinner meeting of NSG members, who remained divided over India’s entry because it is not a signatory to NPT. Besides China, which has been publically vocal in its opposition to India’s membership, it is understood that countries such as Turkey, Austria, New Zealand and Ireland took the stand that no exception can be made in the case of India. Clearly, Modi’s urgings had not changed the Chinese position, but what transpires tomorrow, the final day of the two-day plenary, remains to be seen. Although admission of members such as India which are not signatories to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is not on the agenda, Japan and some other countries are understood to have raised the matter in the opening session which led to the matter being taken up at a special meeting after dinner. [caption id=“attachment_2852716” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov. PTI[/caption] Indian diplomats, led by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, are in Seoul to press India’s case, although they are not the participants at the plenary in the absence of India’s membership. He has met a number of delegation leaders in this regard. About 300 participants from 48 member countries are attending the plenary which was preceded by official-level session that began on June 20. Seeking China’s support for India’s membership, Modi urged Xi to make a “fair and objective” assessment of India’s application which is before the Seoul plenary. The two leaders are in Tashkent for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. The line take by Modi was that New Delhi’s case should be judged on its own merits and that China should contribute to an emerging consensus in Seoul. That there was no immediate commitment by Xi was indicated by External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup who refused to comment saying, “You know, it is a complex and delicate process. We are waiting (to see) what kind of news comes from Seoul. I will not make any more comment on this.” An indicator of the importance attached by India to the membership of the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which will enable it to trade in nuclear technology, is the fact that the Modi-Xi meeting was dominated by this topic. Asked if India talked about the need to delink India and Pakistan’s NSG membership bids, he said, “…You have heard what Prime Minister told Xi Jinping that China must make a fair and objective assessment of India’s application on its own merits and China should join the emerging consensus in Seoul.” Later, when asked at a press conference about Xi’s response to Modi’s request, a top Chinese official refused to comment. China has been unrelenting in its opposition, harping on the need to have a criteria for non-NPT countries like India and clubbing India’s case with that of Pakistan for which it is batting.