Tashkent: In a clear reference to stiff Chinese opposition fir its NSG bid, India today said that one country persistently created procedural "hurdles" during the discussions on its application to the 48-nation group.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup, who is part of PM Narendra Modi's delegation which is here to attend the SCO summit, asserted that India's participation in the NSG would have further strengthened nuclear non-proliferation regime and made global nuclear commerce more secure.
"We understand that despite procedural hurdles persistently raised by one country, a three-hour-long discussion took place last night on the issue of future participation in the NSG," Swarup said here.
NSG, at the end of its two-day plenary in Seoul, declared its "firm support" for the "full, complete and effective" implementation of the NPT as the cornerstone of the international non-proliferation regime, ruling out any exception to India.
However, India maintained that there was no contradiction between the NPT and India's closer engagement with with the NSG.
"The NSG plenary in Seoul earlier in the day decided against granting India membership of the grouping immediately and said it will continue to have discussions on participation of countries which have not signed the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). An overwhelming number of those who took the floor supported India's membership and appraised India's application positively. We thank each and every one of them. It is also our understanding that the broad sentiment was to take this matter forward," he said.
Defending its opposition to entry of non-NPT countries like India into NSG, China said it was guided by the rules of the 48-nation grouping which were not directed against any specific country.
"China wants two things; we must abide by the rules of NSG because these kind of rules are not directed against any specific country. We must strive for consensus by thinking out of the box," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a briefing.
With PTI Inputs
