Make fair assessment of India's NSG application
As India makes a strong bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tashkent and is understood to have sought China's support for it, seen as very crucial to take forward the process.
The outcome of the meeting between Modi and Xi will determine the proceedings of the NSG's two-day plenary that began in Seoul yesterday, sources said.
Briefing the media on the bilateral talks, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said Prime Minister Modi urged Xi to "make a fair and objective assessment of India's application and judge it on its own merit."
"He [Modi] said China should contribute to the emerging consensus in Seoul," Swarup said. Modi arrived in Tashkent to a warm welcome as he kicked off a two-day visit to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) with the aim of expanding India's engagement with the China-dominated grouping in areas of security, defence and energy.
In a special gesture, Modi was received at the Tashkent international airport by his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoev, reports The Hindu.
Prior to his departure to Tashkent, Modi said in New Delhi that India looked forward to a fruitful outcome of its engagement at the SCO summit.
Meanwhile, Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain yesterday thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for his government's support for Islamabad's bid at membership to NSG. However, Hussain's comment flies straight in the face of the Chinese position on the issue.
Hussain and Xi met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tashkent.
"Only granting India the membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group will shift the balance of power," Hussain said, reported Pakistani news outlet Geo TV.
China has maintained its opposition to India's NSG membership bid on the grounds that it is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Neither is Pakistan.
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