Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 14

A day after India met opposition from China, the US today supported New Delhi’s entry into the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), saying it conformed to the “missile technology control regime requirements” that were a must for the membership.China had issued a statement yesterday saying several NSG members felt that signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was a “cornerstone for gaining the NSG membership”. Before Beijing, Islamabad had tried to block India’s entry into the exclusive club. Last month, Sartaj Aziz, foreign affairs adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, went to the extent of saying that “China had helped Pakistan stall India’s bid to get NSG membership”. India has not signed the NPT as it claims the treaty is discriminatory but given its super-clean record in non-proliferation, it is eager to join the NSG.In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said last night: “I’d point you back to what the President said during his visit to India in 2015, where he reaffirmed that the US view was that India meets missile technology control regime requirements and is ready for NSG membership.”Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that not only China, several other NSG members too were of the view that “NPT was the cornerstone for safeguarding the international nuclear non-proliferation regime”. The US support is welcome news but since the NSG membership is based on consensus, India still may have a long way to go before it finally enters the group.

About the elite club

• Nuclear Suppliers Group is an international body concerned with reducing nuclear proliferation by controlling the export andre-transfer of materials that may be used for developing nuclear weapons
• India along with Pakistan, Israel and South Sudan are the only nations that have not signed the NPT, a pact that aims to control spread of nuclear weapons
• India, however, has been pushing for a berth in the NSG on the basis of its clean track record but if India is granted this waiver, Pakistan’s argument is that it too should be given the membership