Modi Meets Jinping, Seeks Support for India's NSG Bid

Tashkent: Seeking China's support for India's membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to make a "fair and objective" assessment of India's application which is before the plenary of the 48-nation grouping that is currently meeting in Seoul.

Meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, Modi said India's case should be judged on its own merits and China should contribute to an emerging consensus in the Seoul meeting, according to External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

The meeting, which lasted for nearly 50-minutes, comes in the backdrop of stiff Chinese opposition to India's entry into the NSG, which looks after critical issues relating to nuclear sector, including trade and export of nuclear technology.

However, when asked about China's response, Swarup refused to comment, saying, "You know, it is a complex and delicate process. We are waiting (to see) what kind of news comes from Seoul. I will not make any more comment on this."

Swarup also stated that most of the time of the Modi-Xi meeting was devoted to the NSG issue.

Asked if India talked about the need to delink India and Pakistan's NSG membership bids, he said, "...You have heard what Prime Minister told Xi Jingping that China must make a fair and objective assessment of India's application on its own merits and China should join the emerging consensus in Seoul."

While making some right noises of playing "constructive" role on the issue of memberships of India and Pakistan, China has been unrelenting in its opposition, harping on the need to have a criteria for non-NPT countries like India and clubbing India's case with that of Pakistan for which it is batting.

Earlier, Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain met Xi on the sidelines of the summit and thanked China for supporting Pakistan's case for NSG membership.

Hussain told Xi that any "exception" in granting membership to the NSG will "disturb" strategic stability in South Asia.