New Delhi: India’s race to secure membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is going down to the wire but prospects of securing membership at the Seoul NSG meet on June 24 appear increasingly bleak due to China’s obstinacy.
Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold make-or-break parleys with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of the SCO Summit there on Thursday as a last-ditch effort to convince him, Pakistan on Tuesday boasted that it had successfully blocked India’s bid.
Its fair-weather friend China, meanwhile, continued to stonewall India’s bid while taking a swipe at the US for backing India.
Mr Sartaj Aziz, foreign affairs adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on Tuesday told the Pakistani Parliament that Islamabad has “successfully” blocked India’s bid.
In Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry appeared to sing different tunes — all aimed at blocking India’s bid — by first saying it was not targeting any country and then taking a swipe at the US for backing India’s case and citing the rule that countries that have not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty should not be allowed into the NSG.
The US, meanwhile, asked the NSG members to consider and support India’s application during the plenary meeting in Seoul. Claiming that Pakistan has a strong case to gain NSG membership on merit and non-discriminatory basis, Mr Aziz said, “We have been making successful efforts against India’s NSG membership.”
