China to send its NSG negotiator to Delhi after Sushma grills counterpart
New Delhi: India on Saturday raised with China its blocking of the UN ban on Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as well as Beijing’s opposition to India’s NSG membership bid. The two sides agreed to have a meeting between their top disarmament officials over the NSG issue.
China has agreed to send its negotiator to New Delhi to take forward the talks on India's entry to the elite 48-nation group.
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, during their talks, decided to put in place a new mechanism at the level of foreign secretaries to discuss various aspects of bilateral ties which have witnessed serious strain in the recent past. Ms Swaraj also conveyed to Mr Wang, Ind-ia’s concerns on the Ch-ina-Pakistan Economic Corridor in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir during the three-hour talks. They reviewed the situation on the border and discussed further steps to strengthen peace and tranquility.
India, China discuss NSG, border security
Earlier in the day, Wang Yi also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a number of issues were discussed during the 20-minute-long meeting.
“Lengthy discussion were held on India’s NSG membership. Swaraj outlined importance of meeting our clean energy goals in the context of COP-21. India offered to discuss any technical issues China may have. It was agreed that the DGs of Disarmament of the two countries would meet soon,” official sources said.
China had scuttled India’s bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) at the plenary meeting of the 48-nation grouping in June on the grounds that it was not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), evoking a strong reaction from India.
India had said China was the only country that put a road block to its NSG membership. Swaraj also raised the issue of China blocking India’s efforts to get JeM chief Azhar, mastermind of the Mumbai and Pathankot terror attacks, banned by the UN.
“China’s technical hold on listing of Masood Azhar in the UNSC 1267 Committee was also taken up. China was urged to revisit its technical hold in line with its own professed zero tolerance towards terrorism,” the sources said. They said the situation on the border was also reviewed and further steps to strengthen peace and tranquillity were discussed.
