UK Backs India’s NSG Bid; Offers ‘Firm Support’

At his regular media briefing here, White House spokesman John Kirby recalled that President Barack Obama had welcomed India’s application for the NSG membership when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Washington earlier this month.

Pakistan’s “full spectrum deterrence” nuclear doctrine and increasing fissile production capability have increased the risk of a nuclear conflict with India, a Congressional report has said amid Pakistan’s efforts to drum up support for its NSG membership bid. The article also expressed concerns that its all-weather friend Pakistan will be left behind because “entry into the NSG will make it (India) a “legitimate nuclear power”.

Chinese official media acknowledged on Thursday that India is “inching closer” to get membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

India’s inclusion in the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) will disturb the nuclear balance in South Asia and prove to be a major deterrent for peace and stability in the entire Asia Pacific region, the latest article in the Global Times said.

“For those countries that are developing nuclear technology without the acceptance of the global community, perhaps counting them into the non-proliferation mechanism will better safeguard nuclear security”, it said.

Aziz has declared that Pakistan was sure to get membership on merit if the gates of NSG were opened for India.

Last week, the foreign ministry’s UN Desk held a briefing in Islamabad for diplomatic missions of NSG-member countries to put forward its argument against India’s membership and to push for its own entry to the elite group. “Once New Delhi gets the membership first, the nuclear balance between India and Pakistan will be broken”. Experts argue that even if its membership bid is rejected at the meeting in Seoul, India’s inclusion in the elite nuclear club is just a matter of time.

While majority of the 48-member group backed India’s membership, China along with New Zealand, Ireland, Turkey, South Africa and Austria were opposed to India’s admission. Like India, Pakistan has not signed the NPT.

“India’s desire to be a member of the NSG comes from its conviction that the NSG is a useful forum to advance global non-proliferation objectives, and further that India can contribute positively towards that end by being a NSG member”. “If such a standard is to be made one day, then it will be possible for both India and Pakistan to become part of the group”, it said. Written by Fu Xiaoqiang, a research fellow at the state-run think tank China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, the article is second in a series published by Global Times since Monday.

Referring to Pakistan’s NSG membership application, the CRS said according to United States law, the Obama Administration could apparently back Islamabad’s NSG membership without congressional approval.