India deserve to be a member of NSG: Salman Khurshid

Former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid on Thursday asserted that India deserve to be a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

"I am sincerely hoping that we will become a full member of the NSG. We deserve it. But I am not quite sure that it is going to happen this time because China has given very clear indications that there are issues which it wants to resolve," Khurshid told ANI.

He also said that it is the duty of the NDA-led Centre to go and negotiate with China, and if they can't, they should tell the country.

"I wish we would have been told by the government what the issues are, and if they think they are confidential, they should have at least said there are impediments and it will take some time. We cannot go and negotiate. It is the government who has to negotiate and if they can't, they should tell the country," he added.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tashkent in an attempt to win Beijing's support for India's membership to the NSG.

He will be meeting President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit meeting that is currently on in Tashkent.

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar yesterday left for Seoul to make a last minute push for New Delhi's entry into the elite group.

This came days after Jaishankar made a two-day trip to China on June 16 and 17 to discuss the matter with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

China, till now, has been playing the role of a dampener on the issue of clearing the way for India's admission to the NSG by repeatedly stating that it is not on the agenda of the grouping, which began its plenary session in Seoul on Monday.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had earlier insisted that China is not blocking India's entry to the NSG, but is talking about the criteria and procedures.

However, Beijing said that its stance does not target any particular country, but applies to all non-NPT countries.