Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a meeting with
Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tashkent on Thursday June 23,2016, requested a "fair
and objective assessment" of India's bid for entry into the Nuclear
Suppliers Group (NSG).
- PM Modi also urged China to "join the emerging consensus" in favour of India in Seoul, where the 48-nation grouping began an important meeting today.
- India's membership is being discussed in the Seoul meeting. It was also raised at the start of the two-day plenary of the NSG, which controls access to nuclear technology.
- Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and other Indian officials are in Seoul, monitoring the deliberations.
- India wants to become a member of the NSG to get better access to low-cost, clean nuclear energy crucial to its economic growth.
- Several countries including the US and France have publicly backed India's bid but China remains the biggest obstacle.
- The foreign ministry said PM Modi, speaking to President Xi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tashkent, spent most of the meeting on discussing NSG.
- China had repeatedly said India's membership was not on the agenda of the Seoul meeting, that "it is only to deliberate on the entry of members who signed the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty)."
- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying also said "China will play a constructive role in the discussions, although parties are yet to see eye-to-eye on this issue."
- China leads the opposition to India but Turkey, South Africa, Ireland and New Zealand are also against India's membership. Opponents argue that the NPT is the legal and political basis for the international non-proliferation system and granting India membership would further undermine these efforts.
- The NSG works on unanimity and even one opposing vote can mean the rejection of India's application for membership
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