A day after the outgoing Obama administration asserted that Beijing was an "outlier" in the efforts to make India a member of the elite nuclear club, China said on Monday that the admission of non-signatories to the NPT in NSG cannot be a "farewell gift" for countries to give to each other.
Regarding India’s application to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), regarding non-NPT countries admission to the NSG, we have made our position clear before so I will not repeat it. I just want to point out that NSG membership shall not be some kind of (a) farewell gift for countries to give to each other.Hua Chunying, Spokesperson, Chinese Foreign Ministry
"Clearly there is one outlier that needs to be addressed and that is China," Nisha Desai Biswal, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia of USA had said on India's NSG membership bid, since China has been blocking India's membership bid for the 48-member grouping despite backing from the majority of members on the grounds that India is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
The US statement comes a week ahead of the Obama Administration passing on the baton to the Trump Administration.
“The (US) President (Barack Obama) has been very clear and unequivocal that he believes that India has met the criteria for NSG and that the United States supports India’s entry that India is ready.Nisha Desai Biswal, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia
China is advocating a two-step approach for admission of countries who have not signed the NPT.
As per the new stand announced by Beijing, it first wants to find a solution that is applicable to the admission of all non-NPT countries, followed by discussions on admitting specific nations.
Besides India, China is also interacting with Pakistan on the issue as Islamabad too applied for NSG membership after India.
On the issue of China's technical hold on India's application to get Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN, Hua took an exception to the criticism that Beijing had blocked the UN ban on him.
Answering a question about French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault's comments calling for "decisive action" against Pakistan-based terror groups like LeT, JeM and Hizbul Mujahideen which are "targeting" India, Hua said, "I don't like the word ‘block’."
(With inputs from PTI)
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