India’s NSG bid not on Seoul plenary agenda, says China

New Delhi: In a setback to India’s hopes of joining the exclusive Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) that controls access to sensitive nuclear technology this week, China on Monday said India’s application was not on the agenda of a key plenary meeting of the bloc in Seoul.

Opinion among the 48-member NSG was divided not only over India’s inclusion, but also on the inclusion of all those who have not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters at a foreign ministry briefing in Beijing, according to reports.

“I want to point out the NSG agenda has never covered any issue concerning non-NPT countries joining the NSG. As we understand the annual conference in Seoul this year also has no such kind of issue or topic,” Hua said.

People familiar with the developments in New Delhi, however, said that India was in touch with friendly countries and had information that India’s membership was one of the subjects listed on the agenda of the Seoul meeting of the NSG.

The categorical Chinese statement signalled that the question of India’s membership would likely go down to the wire.

It came a day after external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj at a press conference in New Delhi said that Beijing was not opposed to India’s bid and that China was only talking about “a criteria-based process” for membership of NSG.

Swaraj had expressed optimism that a consensus was evolving, adding that in recent weeks she had spoken to her counterparts in 23 countries and most of them had agreed to back India’s candidature.

India had submitted its application to join the 48-member bloc on 12 May. A preliminary meeting in Vienna ended inconclusively with China voicing its opposition to non-NPT members joining the group.

To persuade China to drop its opposition, India had despatched foreign secretary S. Jaishankar to Beijing on 16-17 June ahead of the crucial NSG plenary meeting. This came after President Pranab Mukherjee, on a visit to China, sought the “personal” intervention of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on supporting India’s membership.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Tashkent on 23 June—a day before the NSG plenary ends.

It is beings speculated that the NSG membership issue will be one of the subjects on the table for the Xi-Modi meet.

Foreign secretary Jaishankar is also expected to travel to Seoul for the NSG meet.

The NSG controls access to nuclear technology, which India needs to meet its increasing power generation demand, besides other requirements.

The NSG works on the principle of consensus and getting all 48 members on board is crucial for India’s membership to go through.

India has got the backing of most countries, including the US, the UK, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland and Russia.

Reiterating China’s position, Hua said NPT was the “cornerstone” for non-proliferation and Beijing wanted detailed discussions on the issue.

India enjoys most of the benefits of membership under a 2008 exemption to NSG rules granted to support its nuclear cooperation deal with Washington, though the country has never signed the treaty.

Critics argue that granting India membership will hurt efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation. It is also expected to irk India’s rival Pakistan—an ally of China—which has responded to India’s membership bid with one of its own.

“We are not pessimistic about our chances. We are working with our partners. Let us see how things go,” said one of the people familiar with the developments on the Indian side.

Analysts, however, expressed doubts over whether China would drop its reservations.

“China is not going to relent despite all these last-minute persuasion. They have taken a very clear position so openly and it is very unlikely that they will change their position this time around. This could lead to a possible change in the future but not this time,” said Rajeshwari Rajagopalan, senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation think tank in New Delhi.