Narendra Modi urges China to 'make fair assessment' of India's NSG bid

New Delhi: MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Thursday that PM Narendra Modi has urged China to make a fair and objective assessment of India’s entry into NSG.

Modi landed in Tashkent on Thursday and met Chinese Premier Xi Jingping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. He discussed the issue of India's bid for NSG membership with the Chinese Premier.

Meanwhile, the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) on Thursday discussed India’s bid for entry on Day 1 of its 48-nation Seoul meet. The matter is likely to be brought up again tonight at the NSG's plenary.

Although admission of members like India which are not signatories to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is not on the agenda, Japan and some other countries are understood to have raised the matter in the opening session.

Thereafter, it was agreed to consider a number of unscheduled items including India's application at a special session after dinner, informed sources said.

It was not immediately clear whether the discussion on India's membership, which is strongly opposed by China, and few other countries will come up informally or in a more formal way.

Read: After tough talk, China says objection to India's NSG bid not to affect ties

Earlier, China had said that India's bid is not on the agenda at the Seoul meet of the NSG.

But China on Thursday sought to de-link its opposition to India's membership of NSG from Sino-Indian ties saying that it does not concern the bilateral relationship.

China-India bilateral relations have maintained "sound momentum" and the issue of India's admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) does not concern bilateral ties, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

But a key financial dialogue between the two countries set to be attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Beijing on June 27 was postponed to July on Thursday.

Read: NSG plenary begins today, Modi to meet Xi Jinping in last-ditch effort

China is calling for consensus among the 48-member group about the admission of countries which have not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Both India and Pakistan have not signed the NPT, and China’s contention is that if India is admitted to the NSG, so must Pakistan.

Other countries opposing India's bid include Turkey, South Africa and New Zealand. However, 20 countries including the United States, France, Switzerland and Mexico have unequivocally supported India.

"We believe, and this has been US policy for some time, that India is ready for membership and the United States calls on participating governments to support India's application at the plenary session of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

India has been reaching out to NSG member countries seeking support to its membership. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar , who was closely monitoring the goings-on during the officials' level meet of the 48-nation grouping which started on Monday, is in the South Korean capital to lobby with members to boost India's prospects of getting membership.

India is seeking membership of NSG to enable it to trade in and export nuclear technology.

The access to the NSG, which regulates the global trade of nuclear technology, is expected to open up the international market for energy-starved India, which has an ambitious energy generation programme. India is looking at 63,000 MW energy requirement through nuclear programme by 2030.

The NSG looks after critical issues relating to nuclear sector and its members are allowed to trade in and export nuclear technology. Membership of the grouping will help India significantly expand its atomic energy sector.