New Delhi [India] June 5 : External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday called on countries friendly with China to convince Beijing on New Delhi's entry into the grouping, even as Beijing asserted that the membership bid has become more complicated.
On China's objection on inclusion of non-NPT countries, Swaraj said France was a non-NPT country when it was admitted into the NSG.
When it (China) states that India and Pakistan are non-NPT countries, India makes a distinction that in 2008 it got a privilege (NSG waiver), she said, adding that at that time "our criteria was thoroughly looked into".
Swaraj further added that, "Today, the time is not to see our criteria, but our credentials. We have proven our credentials and fulfilled all the commitments made in 2008. Which is why we are saying India and Pakistan are two different cases". Later Swaraj confirmed that, "India will be successful in getting it (NSG membership) one day". Her remarks came after China asserted that India's membership bid in the NSG has become more complicated under the new circumstances and again ruled out backing New Delhi's entry in the grouping, saying there should be non-discriminatory solution applicable to all non-NPT signatory countries.
Pakistan has also applied for the NSG membership. While China has not openly supported Pakistan's membership, it came with a two-step approach which stipulates that the NSG members first need to arrive at a set of principles for the admission of non-NPT states into the NSG and then move forward with discussions of specific cases.
In May last year, India had officially applied for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) which controls export of nuclear materials, equipment and technology.
The matter came up for discussion at the Seoul plenary session of the NSG in June last year, but yielded little result with Beijing scuttling India's bid on the grounds that it was not a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
Source: ANI
