India Meets China in Beijing to Convince Counterpart to Drop Objections Against India at Nuclear Suppliers Group
India on Tuesday reached out to China to convince Beijing to drop their objections against India at Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). India and China on Tuesday held a key dialogue on non-proliferation and disarmament during the meet New Delhi tried to convince China about its non-proliferation credentials
Beijing, April 11: India on Tuesday reached out to China to convince Beijing to drop their objections against India at Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). India and China on Tuesday held a key dialogue on non-proliferation and disarmament during the meet New Delhi tried to convince China about its non-proliferation credentials. The NSG planery is scheduled after few months.
Joint Secretary of Disarmament and International Security, Pankaj Sharma met Beijing’s Wang Xun, who heads the disarmament division in the Chinese government. Wang had blocked the proposal to include India as a member of the elite export control group at a plenary meeting in Seoul in June 2016. Both India and China emphasised the importance of bilateral dialogue. In an official statement issued on Tuesday night, the Indian embassy in Beijing said, “Both sides underlined the importance of the bilateral dialogue as an important mechanism between the two countries for consultations on important issues… The delegations exchanged views on various topics of mutual interest, including, developments related to disarmament and non-proliferation at multilateral forums, nuclear issues, role of science and technology in the context of international security and disarmament as well as outer space.”
Till now China has blocked India’s bid to 48- member NSG many times before. China opposing India’s bid on the grounds that India is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. China is akey member of the NSG. The NSG is the top club of countries which controls access to technology and guards against proliferation. Its membership is important for India to access cutting-edge high technology. India has the backing of USA but China wants that the new members should sign NPT.
India became a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime in June 2016. In December 2017 India got the entry into the Wassenaar arrangement and the Australia Group in January 2018. Tuesday’s meeting with China in Beijing was the first between Indian and Chinese interlocutors after India became member of the three export control regimes.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 11, 2018 10:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).