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A special meeting was convened on Thursday night after the 26th plenary of the Nuclear Suppliers Group kicked off, to discuss urgent items. And prominent on the agenda was India’s bid for entry to the elite nuclear club.
This found voice through countries like Japan, the US, the UK, France, Hungary, Australia, Germany and Canada, in behind-the-door deliberations during the plenary.
They spent three hours deliberating in a closed room at a luxury hotel in Seoul - but the deadlock remained on Thursday as delegations from 48 member countries left around midnight. The special meeting could not get past discussions on the technical consequences of the entry of Non-NPT signatory countries to take up the India bid.
There are plans to restart dialogue on Friday morning.
According to diplomats privy to the conversations, China continued to find ways to block India’s entry, and other nations too had their share of concerns on the issue.
Ireland, Austria and New Zealand raised questions on the merits of non- NPT signatory nations, with Turkey flagging Pakistan’s right of membership to the NSG in future.
Brazil emphasised the need for a nondiscriminatory, criterion-based process.
However, top Indian government sources claimed that the questions of merit raised by some countries can’t be compared to the Chinese opposition. And there were 32 positive interventions in favour of India during the day.
Diplomatic Officials feel confident that this apparent opposition is about trying to find ways to come to an agreement for India despite it not signing the NPT, based on its impeccable non-proliferation record.
Just two hours ahead of the special NSG meeting, all eyes were set on the bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tashkent. India raised the NSG plenary issue in the nearly fifty-minute-long meeting along the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.
MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said: “PM Modi urged China to make a fair and objective assessment of India’s application and judge it on its merit.”
The PM also said China should contribute to an emerging consensus in Seoul, according to the ministry spokesperson. China, however, remained non-committal.
At the NSG meeting, there were no clear indications that India’s membership push was on the agenda. Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se simply said: “We NSG members also need to strive to forge a consensus on the membership issue, considering our needs to further strengthen this group.”
He later evaded a direct question posed by Mail Today over whether New Delhi’s application would figure at the plenary. The Indian delegation in Seoul, led by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar despite him not being inside the consultation room, has been holding dialog on the side.
Jaishankar met delegation members, including the Brazilians, to assuage their concerns.
India now hopes that delegations will go back and consult with their ministries and come back to the negotiating table on Friday to resolve the deadlock.
This found voice through countries like Japan, the US, the UK, France, Hungary, Australia, Germany and Canada, in behind-the-door deliberations during the plenary.
They spent three hours deliberating in a closed room at a luxury hotel in Seoul - but the deadlock remained on Thursday as delegations from 48 member countries left around midnight. The special meeting could not get past discussions on the technical consequences of the entry of Non-NPT signatory countries to take up the India bid.
There are plans to restart dialogue on Friday morning.
According to diplomats privy to the conversations, China continued to find ways to block India’s entry, and other nations too had their share of concerns on the issue.
Ireland, Austria and New Zealand raised questions on the merits of non- NPT signatory nations, with Turkey flagging Pakistan’s right of membership to the NSG in future.
Brazil emphasised the need for a nondiscriminatory, criterion-based process.
However, top Indian government sources claimed that the questions of merit raised by some countries can’t be compared to the Chinese opposition. And there were 32 positive interventions in favour of India during the day.
Diplomatic Officials feel confident that this apparent opposition is about trying to find ways to come to an agreement for India despite it not signing the NPT, based on its impeccable non-proliferation record.
Just two hours ahead of the special NSG meeting, all eyes were set on the bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tashkent. India raised the NSG plenary issue in the nearly fifty-minute-long meeting along the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.
MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said: “PM Modi urged China to make a fair and objective assessment of India’s application and judge it on its merit.”
The PM also said China should contribute to an emerging consensus in Seoul, according to the ministry spokesperson. China, however, remained non-committal.
At the NSG meeting, there were no clear indications that India’s membership push was on the agenda. Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se simply said: “We NSG members also need to strive to forge a consensus on the membership issue, considering our needs to further strengthen this group.”
He later evaded a direct question posed by Mail Today over whether New Delhi’s application would figure at the plenary. The Indian delegation in Seoul, led by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar despite him not being inside the consultation room, has been holding dialog on the side.
Jaishankar met delegation members, including the Brazilians, to assuage their concerns.
India now hopes that delegations will go back and consult with their ministries and come back to the negotiating table on Friday to resolve the deadlock.
