A great deal of money and energy have gone to waste. So has Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-vaunted diplomatic savvy. His expensive visits to numerous countries and seemingly persuasive talks with the top leaders have gone up in smoke. India showed confidence about securing membership of the Nuclear Supplies Group (NSG) but finally failed in the mission. It will not be right to put the blame exclusively on China. Modi did talk to President Xi Jinping of China but apparently he had not cut through Xi’s inscrutability. Where External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj got the impression that China in principle had no objection to India’s joining the NSG, she alone can tell. In the event, China and several other countries blocked consensus at the elite group which controls transfer of nuclear technology in the world. Mexico which Narendra Modi visited to win it over pressed for a “criteria based process” for allowing non-NPT members into the NSG along with Switzerland, Brazil and Turkey. New Delhi was surprised as these countries had given the impression of being on its side. India and Brazil have shared interests in climate change and energy needs. Turkey pushed for clubbing applications of India and Pakistan together. Pakistan’s application had not come up for discussion.
China scuttled India’s move on what was apparently on technical grounds. A non-proliferation treaty (NPT) country is not allowed to be a member of the NSG and China insisted that it could not bend the rules. One wonders if India could argue a case for the rules to be bent and why Delhi was insistent upon refusing to sign the NPT after putting a moratorium on its bomb. India also supports the Comprehensive Nuclear Disarmament Treaty. Why Modi was so keen on membership of the NSG is hard to understand as India has secured all the benefits from the group.