China still says no to India’s NSG membership

TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ China on Friday said that there would be no discussion on India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group before reaching a specific plan on non-NPT members’ participation in the elite grouping, as it declined to give a timeline to reach a consensus among member states on this issue.            

Ever since India applied for the membership of the NSG in May 2016, China has been insisting that only those countries which have signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty should be allowed to enter the organisation. The NSG is a 48-member grouping which regulates the global nuclear commerce.  India and Pakistan are not signatories of the NPT. After India’s application, Pakistan too has applied for the NSG membership in 2016.

Answering a spate of questions whether any change of China’s stand on India’s entry into the NSG which is holding its plenary meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan on June 20-21, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a media briefing here that the group will not discuss the entry of countries who have not signed the NPT “before reaching a specific plan”. “So there is no discussion on India’s participation,” he said.