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NSG membership: India, China hold ‘pragmatic’ talks
India , China agreed to meet for the next round on a mutually convenient date, the Indian statement says, indicating there has been no breakthrough
New Delhi: India and China have held “candid, pragmatic and substantive” talks aimed at resolving differences over New Delhi’s bid to secure membership of the elite Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG), the Indian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
The discussions took place between China’s Wang Qun, director general in the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs and India’s Amandeep Singh Gill, joint secretary (disarmament & international security) in the ministry of external affairs in New Delhi.
“The talk covered issues of mutual interest in the area of disarmament and non-proliferation... The two sides agreed to meet for the next round on a mutually convenient date,” the Indian statement said, indicating there had been no breakthrough. The talks follow an agreement between India and China during a meeting of their foreign ministers—Sushma Swaraj and Wang Yi—on 13 August in New Delhi.
Chinese opposition was seen as the main reason for New Delhi failing in its bid to secure membership of the NSG. China’s stance that India’s application cannot be considered because it has not signed the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty was also backed by some other countries at the NSG plenary session in Seoul in June. This was despite strong backing for India by the US, the UK, France and a number of others in the 48-member group.
China’s rigid stance came despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in May and in Tashkent in June pressing India’s case.
China’s consent to hold talks on the subject with India comes after a UN court on 12 July dismissed Chinese territorial claims over large parts of the South China Sea, over which it has disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam and some other South East Asia countries.
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First Published:13 Sep 2016, 08:02 PM IST
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