An international consensus is building around India’s bid for membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in New Delhi on Sunday, sounding confident of a favourable outcome when the issue comes up for discussion at the NSG plenary in Seoul on June 23.
According to Ms. Swaraj, the government is “hopeful of success in convincing China” by then, indicating that Beijing would not wish to go against the consensus built.
“I think a consensus is being made, and I don’t think any country will break that consensus, and this time we will get the NSG membership,” Ms. Swaraj told reporters at the MEA’s annual press conference.
She had personally spoken to 23 of the 48 countries in the NSG.
By rule, decisions on memberships and other issues in the body that regulates nuclear trade have to be taken by consensus among all members.
The Minister’s words are especially significant as they come hours after the MEA announced that Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar returned from a visit to Beijing, that was kept under wraps.
“All major issues, including India’s NSG membership, were discussed,” the MEA spokesperson said about the visit on June 16-17.
Diplomatic sources in Beijing told The Hindu that considerable diplomatic heavy lifting has now been done with China, setting the stage for a crucial meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the two day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tashkent that begins on June 22. But whether this results in a breakthrough or starts a “constructive process”, remains unclear the sources said.
China has said that it wants the NSG to agree on a process or “criteria” for members, indicating that Pakistan must benefit from any flexibility given to India,.