A new draft proposal circulated among Nuclear Suppliers Group member states early this month could pave the way for India to become a member of the elite club, but this is unlikely to happen before the end of the Barack Obama presidency next month.
China on Monday said there is no change in its stance on admission of non-NPT states into the Nuclear Suppliers Group
India has reiterated its reluctance to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty despite United States President Barack Obama's call for all nations to sign the disputed pact.
China on Tuersday said it will first find a solution that applies to all non-NPT countries seeking entry into NSG and will then discuss India's application, a day after the two country's held talks over India's bid for membership of the elite grouping.
It said the whole accord only contributed to the policy with New Delhi making a number of commitments to that effect.
Biden has reiterated America's support for India's permanent membership on a reformed UNSC and its entry into the NSG during his first in-person bilateral meeting with Modi at the White House.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India not signing NPT does not mean it is part of the nuclear arms race.
Foreign ministry spokesman said no change in China's position in case of non-NPT countries.
Talking of missed opportunities to strengthen the NPT regime, he said, "We cannot afford any more such squandered chances."
United States President Barack Obama has assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the United Nations Security Council resolution asking non-Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty states to sign the proliferation treaty is not directed against India and that his country would fulfill all obligations with regard to the nuclear deal.
China also advocated an "out of the box" thinking to arrive at a consensus over the issue of entry of non-NPT countries into the NSG.
Ahead of her talks with the Indian leadership, a leading American newspaper has said United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should urge India to drop its opposition to the Non Proliferation Treaty and consider opening regional arms talks with Pakistan and China.
The NSG plenary meeting is due to be held next week in the Swiss capital of Bern.
"This Friday in Vienna a plenary session of the NSG will be held. Our position is subject to no change as of date," China said.
Billed as the most comprehensive dialogue between the world's two largest economies, it will be attended by top officials from both sides, including US Secretary of State John Kerry.
A panel for informal consultations on India's membership has also been set up by the NSG and it will be headed by Argentine Ambassador Rafael Grossi.
At a press briefing at Washington DC's National Press Club on the eve of the IAEA board of governors meeting, nonproliferation experts called on the NSG not to reach a consensus on the accord, since it was 'seriously flawed and would undermine the professed objectives of the NSG'
Chinese chief negotiator Ambassador Wang Qun told ANI on Friday, "NSG will not take up India's case as of now. There are differences on admitting non-Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty members. Signing the NPT first is one of five criteria (for membership). These have not been set by China, but by group as a whole."
China on Monday said differences remain among members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group over the inclusion of new countries and the issue was not even on the agenda of the grouping's meeting in Seoul this week, a day after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asserted that Beijing was not opposing India's entry
The Biden administration has reaffirmed its commitment to support India's permanent membership in a reformed UN Security Council and New Delhi's entry to the Nuclear Suppliers' Group.
'Once the deal is through, the US would leverage it to see that India toes Washington's foreign policy and will make New Delhi its strategic ally.'
China on Monday said India's membership bid in the NSG has become "more complicated" under the "new circumstances" as it again ruled out backing New Delhi's entry in the grouping, saying there should be non-discriminatory solution applicable to all non-NPT signatory countries.
Bracketing both India and Pakistan as its 'very special friends', the United States has said that it would not pressurise these countries to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup also asserted that India's participation in the NSG would have further strengthened nuclear non-proliferation regime and made global nuclear commerce more secure.
According to a US State Department factsheet, 'Washington has no specific plans to develop low yield nuclear weapons but the Nuclear Posture Review highlighted the importance of being able to respond to changes in the security environment'.
The outgoing Obama Administration has hit out at China for blocking India's entry into the elite NSG by describing the communist giant an "outlier".
Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Friday said the "strict safeguards" India has to follow to obtain uranium supplies from Sydney will have the same effect of that country signing the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
Breaking the tradition of not naming countries, the first draft of the final document of the 2010 Nuclear-Non Proliferation Treaty Review conference has asked India, Pakistan and Israel to sign the NPT and the CTBT. "The conference calls upon India, Israel and Pakistan to accede to the treaty as non-nuclear weapon States, promptly and without conditions, thereby accepting an internationally legally binding commitment not to acquire nuclear weapons," it said.
India, Pakistan, Israel and South Sudan were the four UN member states which have not signed the NPT, the international pact aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.
India on Thursday hit back at China for its statement that Nuclear Suppliers Group membership can't be a "farewell gift", saying it was not seeking the membership to the 48-nation grouping as gift but instead based on its non-proliferation record.
"This is something we will keep working on together. We strongly support India's accession in the NSG," he said.
'An ardent advocate of nuclear disarmament, Obama may even be secretly heaving a sigh of relief that the NSG is unlikely to reach unanimity of opinion on India's candidature,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Chinese state media on Tuesday labelled India as a spoiled, smug, self-centered, self-righteous nation after Beijing faced massive criticism for blocking New Delhi's bid for membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
China has said it is not against Indo-US relations but they should be within the NPT framework.
'This was undoubtedly a premeditated strategy to thwart India's entry into the NSG.' 'If India hopes to be a major player, it must use its rising clout on the world stage to influence amenable members of the group to alter such discriminatory practices and ensure fair rules of engagement,' says Vivek Gumaste.
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