China isn’t liking India’s candidature for NSG!

As India emerges as a strong contender for membership of the coveted Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), resistance has started building up. As reported by the Economic Times, China is not single-handedly blocking India's standing if Delhi can muster broad support for getting into NSG.

Former Foreign Secretary and PM Modi's ex-special envoy Shyam Saran while delivering an address on "Indo-US civil nuclear agreement-ten years after" said, "China may not be the last country blocking India's candidature for NSG if Delhi can muster broad support for its membership."

The details, however, evoked the reminiscences of the year 2008 when China along with Pakistan expressed displeasure over India's effort to get a clean waiver from NSG. It may also be recalled that a few countries in Europe and Asia-Oceania were opposing almost till the end, India's bid to get clean NSG waiver.

Saran, elaborating the strategic partnership with Washington after the India-US nuclear deal shared his memories of 2008 when the then US President George Bush opposed an assertion by then US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice that the deal was aimed at commercial benefits of the American nuclear industry. Bush, Saran recalled, during a dinner at Washington, said that he did not push the deal for commercial benefits.

The former Foreign Secretary recalled how Indian diplomats and MEA painstakingly and discreetly had negotiated the nuclear deal with the USA between 2005-08. Saran himself played a crucial role in those negotiations.

The address was organized by Delhi-based think tank Society for Policy Studies.


Image: indiatimes