China may be willing to explore the possibility of cooperation with India in the peaceful use of nuclear energy within the IAEA safeguards, similar to the Sino-Pakistan model, a senior scholar with a leading Chinese arms control and disarmament think-tank said in Beijing on Wednesday.
"There is a possibility that China and India can cooperate in the peaceful use of nuclear energy only within the International Atomic Energy Agency," Zhai Dequan, a senior research fellow of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, told PTI.
"It is a matter of time and initiatives from both sides. China has done this with Pakistan (under the IAEA safeguards) and we can also do this with India," Zhai said.
Interestingly, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, during a meeting last Friday with an India-China Eminent Persons Group, had said China was willing to cooperate with all countries on the peaceful use of nuclear energy within the IAEA safeguards.
Meanwhile, other Chinese scholars also stressed that China does not attach great importance in highlighting the 123 agreement reached between India and the US.
"Even in Chinese newspapers, it is not widely published or circulated among ordinary citizens," a Chinese scholar, who did not want to be identified, said, stressing that there is no need for China to 'dramatise' or 'exploit' this issue.
"From the Chinese point of view, there are more important aspects in Sino-India relations for further development because both countries have taken the road of faster development for the betterment of the lives of the peoples of the world's two most populous nations.
"I think specific issues will not affect the development of bilateral relations between China and India," he said, pointing out that India had many wise statesmen who can handle the affairs very well.
At the same time, some Chinese scholars wondered why India is not taking any initiative to join NPT and which will open up more options for the nation on the nuclear front.
Commenting specifically on the 123 agreement, the scholars pointed out that this deal is between India and the United States and bilateral in nature.
"This is a business between the two countries, India and the United States. However, the subject matter (of this bilateral agreement) relates to the international community's principle of non-proliferation," one scholar noted.
"As far as China is concerned, this agreement can be carried forward so long as it does not hurt the principle of non-proliferation," he said, adding, "After a lapse of time, China has realised that non-proliferation is in the fundamental interest of China and also the international community."
Chinese scholars noted that both India and the US have different interpretations of the 123 agreement on three points: nuclear material supply, technological transfer and IAEA safeguards, adding that it needs the 'creative wisdom' from India and the US to properly implement the agreement.
"I don't know what the two sides will do in this case. There must be some consensus reached before any tests, if any, otherwise things may go out of control," one scholar remarked.
Sino-India relations are both cooperative and competitive, especially on the energy resources and foreign direct investment. It is natural for countries to have such cooperative and competitive type of relations, he said.But the two countries should device new ways of conducting business. China is aware of this and is trying to get win-win results and there is already some initiative for energy cooperation between the two countries in international business operations, he added.
