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Special NSG meeting in Seoul, ends

NSG: PM Modi had urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to support India’s entry bid into the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group.

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State-run China Daily showed a world map in its website showing India among the countries supporting China's stand. (PTI Photo)

Live India’s NSG membership bid: No consensus has emerged in the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group meet so far about India’s induction is concerned. China is not the sole opponent in NSG meet against India’s induction, Brazil, Austria, New Zealand also opposed India’s entry citing India being non NPT state.

Earlier in the day, PM Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tashkent and sought China’s support for India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group, seen as very crucial to take forward the process.

Track this space for LIVE updates:

8:30 PM: Delegates leave venue after Special NSG meet IN Seoul, refuse to answer question on induction of India into NSG

8:21 PM: Meeting of Heads of delegations of NSG in Seoul, to continue tomorrow

8:19 PM: Special NSG meeting in Seoul, ends

7:30 PM: Mexico backed India’s induction into NSG

7:29 PM: No discussion took place on induction of Pakistan in NSG

7:28 PM: China is not the sole opponent in NSG meet against India’s induction into the NSG.  Brazil, Austria, New Zealand, Ireland, Turkey opposed India’s induction into NSG citing India being non NPT state.

7:27 PM: No consensus emerged in the NSG meet so far about India’s induction in NSG (ANI)

5:34 PM: This is a complex and delicate negotiation process, says MEA’s Vikas Swarup.

5:32 PM: China must contribute to emerging consensus on India’s NSG bid, PM Modi told Xi Jinping

5:31 PM: China must make a fair and objective assessment on merits on India’s NSG bid, PM Modi tells Xi Jinping

5:30 PM: PM Modi urged China to make a fair assessment of India’s bid for entry into NSG, says MEA’s Vikas Swarup.

5:00 PM: Everybody is now behind India in terms of supporting it for NSG membership. If China doesn’t support India’s NSG membership despite global support, Indo-China relations will hit a new low: Commodore Commodore RS Vasan , Analyst (to Times Now)

4:55 PM: Meeting between PM Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping in Tashkent ends

4:23 PM: Not clear whether the discussion on India’s membership will come up informally or in a more formal way at the special session of NSG

Also read: After US, France asks NSG members to back India’s bid

4:17 PM: Although admission of members like India which are not signatories to the Nuclear NPT is not on the agenda, Japan and some other countries are understood to have raised the matter in the opening session.

4:16 PM: India’s bid for NSG membership will come up tonight at a special post-dinner meeting of the 48-nation grouping’s plenary

4:15 PM: PM Modi meets Chinese President Xi Jinping

4:00 PM: NSG members will meet for a special session in Seoul tonight and India’s membership bid is expected to come up for discussion.

[related-post]

What is NSG?

The NSG is a 48-nation which looks after critical issues relating to the nuclear sector and its members are allowed to trade in and export nuclear technology.

Countries that are part of NSG are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States.

The NSG Guidelines also contain the so-called “Non-Proliferation Principle,” adopted in 1994, whereby a supplier, notwithstanding other provisions in the NSG Guidelines, authorises a transfer only when satisfied that the transfer would not contribute to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

India’s supporters:

Amidst PM Narendra Modi’s aggressive push for India’s entry into NSG (Nuclear Suppliers’ Group), France has come out in full support for India. France volunteered a statement to assert that India’s participation in nuclear control regimes will help better regulate the export of sensitive goods, whether they are nuclear, chemical, biological, ballistic or conventional materials and technologies.

“France considers that India’s entry into the four multilateral export control regimes (NSG, MTCR, The Australia Group, The Wassenaar Arrangement) will bolster international efforts for combating proliferation. In line with its active and long-standing support to India’s entry to the NSG as a full-fledged member, France calls on its members, who are meeting on 23 June in Seoul, to take a positive decision,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

PM Modi has already managed to bag the support of Mexico and Switzerland. Mexico’s backing represents a historic policy shift for the country, which has held a firm position on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation for decades.

The US and many other NSG member countries have supported India’s inclusion based on its non-proliferation track record. US President Obama has welcomed India’s application to join the NSG, and re-affirmed that India is ready for membership. US has called on NSG participating governments to support India’s application when it comes up at the NSG Plenary.

What S Jaishankar did:

Meanwhile, in a final push Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar is in South Korean capital Seoul ahead of the crucial NSG Plenary.

Jaishankar, who was closely monitoring the goings-on during the official-level meet of the 48-nation grouping which started on Monday, has gone to Seoul to lobby with members to boost India’s prospects of getting membership.

Roughly 20 countries are backing India’s case fully but given that the decisions in NSG are taken by consensus, India faces uphill task. But there was a degree of optimism among Indian officials which explains Jaishankar’s presence in the South Korean capital.

China’s stand

China continues to make ambivalent statements on India’s bid for NSG membership amid clear indications that it was unrelenting in its opposition. While making some right noises of playing “constructive” role on the issue of memberships of India and Pakistan, China maintained that the matter was not on the agenda of the plenary. Here too, Beijing clubbed the two sub-continental neighbours despite the marked difference in their nuclear non-proliferation track record.

(With inputs from PTI)

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First published on: 23-06-2016 at 16:13 IST
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