New Delhi: Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday, during which India's bid for membership of the NSG is understood to have figured among other regional and bilateral issues.
Modi received Yi, who briefed him on G-20 summit to be held in China in September.
One of the most important issues discussed in the meet, apart from the NSG deadlock, was the listing of Masood Azhar as a terrorist under a UN resolution. China has been blocking India's efforts to list Azhar on the international blacklist of terrorists. India urged China to revisit its technical hold in line with its own professed zero tolerance towards terrorism.
In the context of the Climate Change Summit in Paris in 2015, the clean energy goals as underlined by COP-21 were also discussed in the meet, said ANI.
Sushma Swaraj conveyed India’s concerns on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and offered to discuss any technical issues China may have. It was agreed that Director Generals of Disarmament of both countries would meet soon.
Wang and Swaraj also discussed issues relating to annual BRICS summit which will be hosted by India in Goa in October. "Discussing issues of mutual importance. EAM @SushmaSwaraj meets with her counterpart Chinese FM Wang Yi in New Delhi," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted, along with a photograph of the meeting of the two foreign ministers.
Additionally, the situation on the Indo-Chinese border was reviewed and further steps to strengthen peace and tranquility were discussed.
Apart from this, regional and international issues including implications of Brexit, and the situation in Korean Peninsula was discussed. China did not bring up the issue of the South China Sea judgement in the meet, said ANI.
Wang Yi had arrived in Goa on Friday on a three-day visit to India. He had met Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and discussed about preparations for the BRICS summit.
On Friday, China’s state run media had claimed that the door to India’s entry into NSG was not ‘tightly closed’.
Wang Yi had met Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar on Friday, to review the logistics and security arrangements for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s proposed visit in October to the state for the BRICS summit.
China had blocked India’s entry into the NSG earlier this year, despite considerable efforts at diplomacy by Narendra Modi and the government. Beijing’s contention was that India was not a signatory of a key nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
But stressing that India and China are partners not rivals, state-run Xinhua news agency said on Friday that, “as Beijing and New Delhi head into a season of intensive top-level diplomatic encounters that could well define the future of their partnership, the two need to work together to keep their disagreements in check”.
