China may back India on NSG, but sets conditions

BEIJING: India has to comply with nuclear non-proliferation rules and have an independent foreign policy for China to support its bid to join the NSG, state media

BEIJING: India has to comply with nuclear non-proliferation rules and have an independent foreign policy for China to support its bid to join the NSG, state media said on Thursday, laying down the rules for New Delhi to fulfil its aspiration.

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India is not qualified to be a member of the NSG but is inching closer to entering the nuclear trading group with Washington’s support so as “to obtain an edge over Islamabad in nuclear capabilities”, said an opinion piece in Global Times.

China can push India’s case too but there are riders, it said, indicating that becoming the US’s military ally will not help New Delhi’s case with Beijing.

“As long as all NSG members reach a consensus over how a non-NPT member could join the NSG, and India promises to comply with stipulations over the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons while sticking to its policy of independence and self-reliance, China could support New Delhi’s path toward the club,” said the piece by Fu Xiaoqiang of the influential state-run think tank, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR).

“Yet before that, a fair and just principle must be made through common consensus of all current members of the NSG, rather than US and India’s reckless pushing at the cost of rule-breaking.”

Fu’s article described India as a “defence ally” of the US and said is it is getting American support — and this is clearly not something that Beijing likes.