Just days ahead of the BRICS Summit in Goa, China has said that it ‘is willing to discuss possibilities with India on its bid to become a full-fledged member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)’.
Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said that new NSG members needed to be agreed upon by all existing members and that ‘rules were not set by China’.
“On the issue of joining the NSG, China and India have all along had very good communications, and (China) is willing to have further communications with the Indian side, to increase consensus,” Li said.
“On this, China is willing to jointly explore all kinds of possibilities with India, but this must accord with the charter of the NSG, and certain rules need to be respected by all sides,” Li added.
Beijing’s reaction comes just two days ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India for BRICS Summit.
New Delhi had last month said it had held ‘substantive’ talks with Beijing on its attempt to join the NSG, a 48-member grouping of countries that trades in civil nuclear technology.
The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) recognises the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - as nuclear weapons powers but not others. India has ruled out signing the NPT but says its track record of non-proliferation should entitle it to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
India was granted an NSG waiver in 2008 that allows it to engage in nuclear commerce, but deprives it of a vote in the organisation's decision making.
Backers of India's NSG bid, who include the United States, hope a deal can be reached despite a setback at the group's annual meeting in Seoul in June.
In Goa, Xi will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a host of other leaders, including heads of the BIMSTEC (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand) countries who have been invited to the Goa summit.
In all, 11 Heads of State from BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries will attend the meeting.
The BRICS summit will start on October 15 and will end the next day, following which there will be a retreat, in which BIMSTEC countries will take part, according to officials.
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