Seoul: India’s wait for a coveted Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) membership continues even after eight years of lobbying, as China foiled its latest bid in Seoul on the grounds that New Delhi has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Also upholding China’s technical objection to India’s membership were NSG members South Africa, Norway, Brazil, Austria, New Zealand, Ireland and Turkey, diplomatic sources said, after the annual plenary of the 48-nation grouping ended in the South Korean capital on Friday without any decision on New Delhi’s application.
India blamed China for the diplomatic fiasco that came a day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a 45-minute meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup without naming Beijing said “procedural hurdles persistently raised by one country” stalled India’s bid even as most others in the grouping supported New Delhi.
“An overwhelming number of those who took the floor supported India’s membership and appraised India’s application positively,” Swarup said.
But an NSG statement after the Seoul plenary did not mention about membership applications from India or any other country, including Pakistan, indicating that the grouping could not arrive at a consensus on allowing the countries that have not signed the non-proliferation agreement. India says the NPT is “flawed and discriminatory”.
The statement said the meeting discussed the “issue of technical, legal and political aspects of the participation of non-NPT states in the NSG and decided to continue its discussion”.
“Participating governments reiterated their firm support for the full, complete and effective implementation of the NPT as the cornerstone of the international non-proliferation regime.”
Swarup said the NSG statement suggested that “India requires to join the NPT and our stand on the NPT is well known”.
India, strongly backed by the US, applied for NSG membership on May 12 this year. But it began working for the entry into the elite club of nations that regulate global nuclear trade and technology way back in 2008.
The NSG in that year waived the full-scope safeguards requirement and allowed India to import enrichment and reprocessing equipment and technology without signing the NPT. The grouping then said it was giving “clean and unconditional” waiver “based on the commitments and actions” on non-proliferation undertaken by India. (Agencies)
