The plenary meeting of the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group, NSG ended in Seoul today with no decision on India’s membership bid. Divisions persisted over admitting non-NPT members, with China leading the opposition.
China’s stand that India’s membership application cannot be considered because it has not signed the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, NPT, was backed by nearly 10 other countries which effectively torpedoed India’s bid, although India had the strong backing of the US, the UK, France and a majority of countries in the nuclear trading group.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier urged China to make a fair and objective assessment of India’s bid to join the prestigious NSG. In a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, he said, India’s application of joining the group should be judged on its own merit.