China's NSG stand is neither fair nor transparent, says Defence Expert

Defence Expert Major General (Retired) P.K. Sehgal on Tuesday said that China's treatment is neither fair nor transparent with regard to the stand taken by it over the assent for the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) membership , adding that former's gesture is not friendly.

"China's treatment is neither fair nor transparent and even they are not friendly. Even Beijing is aware that if India become the NSG member then the nuclear technology with India which makes it far ahead of China in terms of its peaceful usage," he said.

General (Retired) Sehgal added that India is not surprised from the statement made by China and only USA could get stunned by the stand taken by Beijing over the NSG.

He claimed that China's export market will get destroyed if India become the member of NSG and keeping this in mind, China would never let India become the member of the NSG.

"India need to make sure that it strengthen its economic and military power as quickly as possible. If we become economically and militarily powerful then China has to give its assent to India's entry into NSG and in future it will not be able to block UNSC seat," Sehgal told ANI.

China has once again reiterated its position on non-NPT countries' accession to the NSG, saying that the NSG membership is not something to be given privately between countries as a farewell gift.

"China has repeatedly stated its position on non-NPT countries' accession to the NSG. There is no need for me to repeat it here. It is worth pointing out that the NSG membership is not something to be given privately between countries as a farewell gift," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying.

The remarks came after the outgoing Obama administration had said that China is the only country blocking India from becoming a member of the NSG and described Beijing as an "outlier".

India has long been trying to secure the membership of the 48-member group but China's stance on New Delhi not being a signatory of NPT has been blocking its bid to secure the seat.

India has been pressing China to relent on its opposition, saying that vast majority of the 48-member group back New Delhi's case.

Despite being backed by U.S. and other countries, India had failed to secure the membership at the NSG plenary session in Seoul in June following China's opposition.

NSG is a group of nuclear supplier countries that seek to prevent nuclear proliferation by controlling the export of materials, equipment and technology that can be used to manufacture nuclear weapons.