Sushma Swaraj sure of China support for NSG bid

Says membership will inspire investor confidence in India's civil nuclear sector

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday said her ministry was confident that it would be able to persuade China to support India’s entry to the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Earlier in the day, Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar was in Beijing on June 16-17, where he discussed “all major issues, including India’s membership to NSG” with his Chinese counterpart.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Tashkent to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on June 23-24. He is slated to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines and the two are likely to discuss India's membership to NSG.

Swaraj, addressing the media as part of the government’s two-year anniversary outreach, said Beijing wasn’t opposed to India’s membership.

She said China had asked if India met criteria and processes of the group. China, along with some others, had said India was not a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory, a prerequisite for entry.

“But the criteria and processes were determined when we received the NSG waiver in 2008. Today, the NSG members need to consider our credentials and track record (in following NSG mandated norms),” she said.

The minister expressed confidence that New Delhi would be able to persuade Beijing. Swaraj said she herself had spoken to 23 of the 48-member states of NSG. She said as many as 21 supported, while only two sought clarifications but these would also eventually support India.

Swaraj said she was slated to travel to Poland, an NSG member, but couldn't because she was unwell. When asked what if India doesn’t make it to the NSG, Swaraj said: “We, who contest Lok Sabha elections, shut our ears to such thoughts. I couldn’t hear your question. We are pursuing our objective with immense focus.”

The NSG plenary is to meet in Seoul on June 23 and 24 to discuss India’s membership application. Officials said the decision might not be known immediately.

The entire process would stretch for a few months. But India should be a member by November, they said.

The NSG is a group of 48 nuclear supplier countries constituted after India’s “peaceful nuclear test” of 1974. It seeks to prevent nuclear proliferation by controlling the export of materials, equipment and technology that can be used to make nuclear weapons.

Critics, however, have termed MEA’s recent diplomatic offensive as unnecessary. They have pointed out that New Delhi had received all that it had needed from the NSG by the 2008 waiver. But Swaraj disagreed. “The difference is similar to sitting outside or inside a club,” she said.

The minister said India has been engaged with the NSG for 12 years. “But the difference now is to do with our INDC commitments (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) to Climate Change,” she said.

Swaraj said India has committed that 40 per cent of its energy needs would come from non-fossil fuels and of this nuclear energy would constitute a third.

“For this, investors in India’s civil nuclear sector would want to operate in a predictable atmosphere. NSG membership will end uncertainty (in their minds),” she said.