NEW DELHI: India on Friday made it amply clear that China’s obstructionist approach had thwarted its bid to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a technology restraint regime comprising 48 countries, despite favourable indications from other member countries.
The bruising New Delhi faced at the NSG was succeeded by the country’s entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) on June 27th. However, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) singled out China for blocking its entry into the NSG.
“....we have bilateral engagements with each of the 48 countries and on the basis of that I can say with complete certainty that at the end of the day there was only one country that raised procedural hurdles as a result of which the Nuclear Suppliers Group could not arrive in favour of India,” MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a briefing here on Friday. India made it clear that though it does not have access to the proceedings of the NSG, the bilateral engagements with each of the member countries had provided for a strong consensus for its entry application to the elite club. “The other countries did raise process-related issues, but process-related issues do not imply that they are opposing India’s membership. It is just they have a different solution about how India should enter the NSG,” Swarup added.
NSG came into inception following India’s first nuclear test in 1974 and a regime was put in place to prevent the proliferation of nuclear technology.
Indo-Pak talks
India on Friday also countered the accusations of Pakistan Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Sartaz Aziz that New Delhi was shying away from peace talks. Reiterating India’s commitment to talks, the MEA Spokesperson said the country was ready to engage with Islamabad, but only in an environment “free of violence and terror”.
“In so far as the comments of Sartaj Aziz are concerned, I would say that India has never ever shied away from engagement with Pakistan and India is prepared to discuss all outstanding issues with Pakistan in an environment free of terror and violence. It is India which has repeatedly taken initiative to engage Pakistan,” Swarup added.