China leads resistance to India joining nuclear export club

The US has been pushing for India’s membership.

Only countries that have ratified the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty are normally eligible for membership.

Two diplomats at an NSG meeting said it ended Thursday with several countries that were previously opposed to India’s membership softening their resistance.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wrote to members asking them “not to block consensus on Indian admission to the NSG” in a letter seen by Reuters and dated Friday. While snubbing Prime Minister Modi for taking credit for establishing ties with the U.S., Mr.Tewari said Indo-U.S. nuclear deal signed during the UPA time was the bedrock of the relation.

The NSG was formed in 1975 in response to and a year after India’s nuclear weapon test, in a program clandestinely developed from peaceful technology.

“And that includes steps by Pakistan to ensure that its territory is not used to plan attacks in India and that Pakistan takes steps to address or to go after, I think, all the terrorist groups that are now using its territory”, Toner said. Membership of the grouping will help India significantly expand its atomic energy sector.

Shah said it is due to the success of the BJP government’s “aggressive diplomacy” that India is poised to become a member of the major multi-lateral export control regime – the 34-member Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).

Beijing would have also noted the kind of advances US and India made in technology transfers and cooperation in other frontier areas, including finalising the text of an agreement which will enable sharing of information vital in India’s development and, ultimately, deployment of aircraft carriers, and a framework for the US-India cyber relationship, the first such document the US has concluded with any foreign country.

Officials also reported progress in resolving an impasse over an Indian liability law passed in 2010 that makes builders of nuclear plants in India financially responsible for any accidents that might occur, with efforts to negotiate a multimillion-dollar insurance fund to cover any accidents.

Lack of effective implementation of laws and policies remain a persistent challenge, Sifton said during a hearing on “Challenges & Opportunities: The Advancement of Human Rights in India” organised by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Tuesday.

Nevertheless, Obama called on governments participating in the NSG to support India’s application to the group when it meets later this month in Seoul, South Korea. The diplomats demanded anonymity in exchange for speaking to The Associated Press because they were not authorized to talk about the substance of the closed session.

It is understood India was hopeful of getting support from China as it had supported India’s case in 2008 when India got a waiver from the NSG to allow US’ nuclear trade with India.