BackIndia rejects China contention for entry into nuclear suppliers group
India cites example of France to contend that it needn't sign nuclear non-proliferation treaty to get membership of nuclear suppliers group
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New Delhi: India on Friday rejected China’s contention that it must sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to get membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), citing the example of France, which was part of the NSG without being a signatory to the NPT.
India’s comments followed China’s reported blocking of India’s entry to the NSG earlier this month on grounds that it had not signed the NPT.
“I think there is some confusion here. Even the NPT allows civil nuclear cooperation with non-NPT countries. If there is a connection, it is between the NSG and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards and with export controls," external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
“NSG members have to respect safeguards and export controls, nuclear supplies have to be in accordance with the NSG guidelines. The NSG is an ad hoc export control regime and France, which was not an NPT member for some time, was a member of the NSG since it respected NSG’s objectives," said Swarup.
Last week, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang had said all the multilateral non-proliferation export control regime including the NSG have regarded NPT as an important standard for the expansion of the NSG.
“Apart from India, a lot of other countries expressed their willingness to join. Then it raised the question to the international community—shall non-NPT members also become part of NSG?" he said, adding, “China’s position is not directed against any specific country but applies to all the non-NPT members."
Liu Zhenmin, China’s vice-minister of foreign affairs, later denied his country was blocking India’s bid for a membership to the NSG and said it will “work" with the members of the 48-nation grouping as well as India to find a solution.
“Members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group should be party to NPT. So, I think China will also work with others including Indian colleagues together to find a solution," he had said.
President Pranab Mukherjee is likely to raise the issue during his visit to Beijing next week.
PTI contributed to this report.
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