17 January,2017 10:02 AM IST | | Agencies
China yesterday said admission of non-NPT signatories in NSG cannot be a farewell gift for countries to give to each other, a day after the outgoing Obama administration asserted that Beijing was an outlier in the efforts to make India a member of the elite nuclear club
Beijing: China yesterday said admission of non-NPT signatories in NSG cannot be a "farewell gift" for countries to give to each other, a day after the outgoing Obama administration asserted that Beijing was an "outlier" in the efforts to make India a member of the elite nuclear club.
"Regarding India's application to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), regarding non-NPT countries admission to the NSG, we have made our position clear before so I will not repeat it, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here, reacting to remarks by US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Nisha Desai Biswal, on the issue.
"Clearly there is one outlier that needs to be addressed and that is China," Biswal had said on India's NSG membership bid. "I just want to point out that NSG membership shall not be some kind of (a) farewell gift for countries to give to each other," Hua said, taking a dig at the Obama administration.
China has been blocking India's membership bid for the 48-member grouping despite backing from majority members on the grounds that India is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). China is advocating a two-step approach for admission of countries who have not signed the NPT.
As per the new stand announced by Beijing, it first wants to find a solution that is applicable to the admission of all non-NPT countries followed by discussions on admitting specific nations. Besides India, China is also interacting with Pakistan on the issue as Islamabad too applied for NSG membership after India.
