India, China hold 'pragmatic' talks on NSG

New Delhi emphasises its "impeccable" track record in non-proliferation to visiting Chinese delegation

Senior Indian and Chinese officials on Tuesday met in the Capital to discuss New Delhi’s bid to become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which Beijing, along with a handful of other countries, had scuttled at the nuclear non-proliferation club’s plenary meeting in Seoul in June. The meeting concluded with the two sides agreeing to meet again at a mutually convenient date, indicating no consensus was reached.

A Chinese delegation, led by Director General of Department of Arms Control Wang Qun, held talks with an Indian delegation, led by Amandeep Singh Gill, joint secretary (disarmament & international security), in the ministry of external affairs (MEA). 

“The talk covered issues of mutual interest in the area of disarmament and non-proliferation. As agreed by the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in their meeting on August 13, the two sides focused, in particular, on an issue of priority for India - membership to the NSG,” the MEA said. It termed the discussions “candid, pragmatic and substantive”.

The Indian side emphasised to the visiting Chinese delegation New Delhi’s “impeccable” track record in non-proliferation and stressed on its requirement for clean energy. India conveyed to the Chinese side that its implementation of non-proliferation principles was “second to none”, sources said.

The two sides have, in the past few days, tried to indicate a thaw in relations. Immediately after its embarrassment at Seoul in June, New Delhi had singled out Beijing for stalling its NSG bid. Last week, India’s Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had said the issue of China blocking India’s move to sanction well-known terrorist leaders or the NSG issue should not emerge as points of difference with a “partner” like China. On Tuesday, the spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said in Beijing that it was natural for China and India not to see eye-to-eye on some issues, but friendship will prevail over “problems”.