India failed to get membership of the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) in the two-day plenary that concluded in Seoul on Friday. India’s application for the NSG membership was rejected following opposition from 10 member countries. China strongly opposed India’s entry into the group, while most other members including the US, France, and Britain were in favor of India’s membership in the elite group.
China opposed India on the grounds that India has not yet signed the NPT. Thirty-eight out of 48 members supported India’s entry to the group. However, Brazil, Switzerland, Turkey, Austria, Ireland and New Zealand were among those who opposed India’s membership.
Just one day ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Chinese President in Tashkent and requested him to support India’s entry on merit.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said ‘one country’ persistently created procedural hurdles during the discussions on India’s membership issue, and it was because of that country that India could not get entry into the group. Swaroop said the group has agreed to discuss membership for countries that have not signed NPT.
“We understand that despite procedural hurdles persistently raised by one country, a three-hour-long discussion took place last night on the issue of future participation in the NSG,” Vikas Swarup said.
“The NSG plenary in Seoul earlier in the day decided against granting India membership of the grouping immediately and said it will continue to have discussions on participation of countries which have not signed the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).”
“An overwhelming number of those who took the floor supported India’s membership and appraised India’s application positively. We thank each and every one of them. It is also our understanding that the broad sentiment was to take this matter forward,” he said.
Meanwhile China has defended its decision. Chinese Foreign Minister said China is bound by the rules of the NSG, and these rules are not meant to oppose any specific country. Chinese Foreign Minister also said that a different approach is needed to make a consensus on the issue of offering NSG membership to countries that have not signed NPT.
Congress Party, the main opposition party in Indian Parliament, said Modi Government’s planning has completely failed. Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said it would have been better if government had done proper preparations before applying for membership of NSG. He said the government is presenting wrong information to public from the first day.
India has however got permanent membership of Shanghai Cooperation Organization. India signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Friday to initiate the final process of getting membership of the group. Prime Minister Modi said India’s membership would help the region to fight against radicalization and terrorism. He said India would adopt zero tolerance approach against terrorism.
