Haven’t decided on India, Pak NSG membership: China

BEIJING: China on Wednesday said it was yet to formalise a position on the accession of countries like India and Pakistan, which are not signatories to the non-NPT

BEIJING: China on Wednesday said it was yet to formalise a position on the accession of countries like India and Pakistan, which are not signatories to the non-NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty), into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

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Beijing’s reaction comes a day after India and China had talks on New Delhi’s accession to NSG.

“China’s position is very clear,” Hua Chunying, foreign ministry spokesperson, said at a press conference on Wednesday. “China is yet to form a position on the accession of any specific non-NPT country. But we are willing to have discussions with NSG members on the accession of non-NPT countries.”

Commenting on Tuesday’s talks with India, Hua said countries were “yet to agree on the accession of any specific member into the group”. “That is to say, we first need to reach agreement that applies to all non-NPT countries, then we will talk about accession of a specific country”.

On on-one-on discussions on NSG with India, Hua said China will hold the next round of bilateral consultations with India between the directors-general of their disarmament departments.