China rejects bending rule for India to join nuclear club

“I say this strongly that India should not accept the NSG membership”.

However, in a complete shocker, Switzerland, who had earlier extended its complete support, has now opposed New Delhi’s bid citing it being a non-Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) state.

China’s chief negotiator at the NSG told reporters that the group would not bend the rules for India’s inclusion into nuclear the club.

The NSG Plenary meeting in Seoul ended today without any decision on India’s membership bid as several countries led by China opposed the admission of non-NPT members.

The highlight of his visit was his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during which he pushed for support to India’s bid for NSG membership by China which has been opposing it steadfastly.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), whose membership India failed to get two days back, is likely to meet again before the end of the year to specially discuss the process for allowing non-NPT signatories into the 48-nation grouping, thus providing another chance to India to press its claims. “It was clear that they are using their own fissile material for military purposes and were taking the material from other countries for civil purposes…the world appreciated this point”, he said. He added that India specific IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) agreement allowed India to also trade with NSG Countries.

China said India should not become a member until it signs the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) – a key requirement for all NSG members.

NSG, at the end of its two-day plenary in Seoul, declared its “firm support” for the “full, complete and effective” implementation of the NPT as the cornerstone of the worldwide non-proliferation regime, ruling out any exception to India.

New Delhi believes joining the NSG, which concluded a two-day meeting in Seoul last Friday, would give it better access to low-priced, clean nuclear energy, important for economic growth. “India which has shown so much keenness in getting NSG membership, it is not required at all”.

“There are some processes which take longer, I’d evaluate the NSG membership process in that category”, he said. “It is also our understanding that the broad sentiment was to take this matter forward”, he said. “If we don’t get desired results, it only means that we redouble our efforts”, Vikas Swarup, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson, told presspersons.

China did not hide its opposition, saying the global non-proliferation order will collapse if India joined the group without signing the NPT.