India's entry into NSG depends on how well US influences China: Lisa Curtis

With China determined to block India from becoming a Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) member at the upcoming meeting on June 9, Lisa Curtis, a senior research fellow at a top American think-tank Heritage Foundation, on Monday, said it now remains to be seen how the United States uses its influence over Beijing to convince that India belongs 'inside the Nuclear non-proliferation tent' and not outside.

Citing China's move to block the ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar in the United Nations, Curtis said Beijing is not on the same page on several issues concerning India.

"US will come out in strong support of India's membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). It is something India has been pushing for many many years," she told ANI here.

"China is trying to block India's membership at the NSG. And it is linking India's membership with Pakistan's member ship. Will the US use its influence with China to convince them to allow India to join NSG and that it is important to have India inside the Nuclear non-proliferation tent and not outside," she added.

India's biggest hurdle at the upcoming NSG meeting on June 9 will be to overcome China's two-faced policy of opposing New Delhi's application to join the group on one hand while violating terms by supplying banned nuclear materials to Pakistan on the other.

With US President Barack Obama backing India's entry into the NSG, New Delhi is looking to Washington to help overcome resistance from China and several other nations.

Analysts in the United States believe that India's NSG application is in a precarious position for several reasons, chief among them being China's assertion that if the NSG countries make an exception for India, they should do the same for Pakistan, even though Islamabad has been caught selling nuclear weapons secrets to Libya and was named and shamed globally.

China's objection to India's membership to the NSG is by no means a principled stand given its own proliferation history. It is no secret that Beijing's continued assistance to Pakistan for the latter's civil and military nuclear program is in flagrant violation of the obligations and commitments it made as a member of the NSG.