Tashkent/Seoul: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged China to support India's NSG bid, but there was no breakthrough on the issue at the meeting of the 48-nation grouping in the face of stiff Chinese-led opposition.
As Modi and the powerful Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Tashkent, some 5000 km away in the South Korean capital, India's case, although not on the formal agenda, came up at a special post-dinner meeting of NSG members, who remained divided over India's entry because it is not a signatory to NPT.
Clearly, Modi's urgings had not changed the Chinese position, but what transpires on Friday, the final day of the two-day plenary, remains to be seen.
Although admission of members like India which are not signatories to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is not on the agenda, Japan and some other countries are understood to have raised the matter in the opening session which led to the matter being taken up at a special meeting after dinner.
Indian diplomats, led by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, are in Seoul to press India's case, although they are not the participants at the plenary in the absence of India's membership. He has met a number of delegation leaders in this regard.
About 300 participants from 48 member countries are attending the plenary which was preceded by official-level session that began on June 20.
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