PM Modi to meet Chinese President to win Beijing's support for NSG membership

On 23 June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan capital Tashkent in an attempt to win Beijing's support for India's membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Prime Minister Modi will be meeting President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit meeting that is currently on in Tashkent.

The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, and military organization which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Highly placed sources told ANI that the meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping would be an exclusive one-on-one discussion, where the top agenda would be to seek China's support for India's membership in the NSG.

On the other hand, the United States has called on the participating governments of the NSG to support India's application for membership.

The plenary discussion on the matter will be held in Seoul tomorrow and the final meeting in which India and Pakistan's fate in the NSG would be decided will take place on Thursday.

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar on 22 June left for Seoul to make a last minute push for New Delhi's entry into the elite group.

This came days after Jaishankar made a two-day trip to China on June 16 and 17 to discuss the matter with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

China, till now, has been playing the role of a dampener on the issue of clearing the way for India's admission to the NSG by repeatedly stating that it is not on the agenda of the grouping, which began its plenary session in Seoul on Monday.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had earlier insisted that China is not blocking India's entry to the NSG, but is talking about the criteria and procedures.

"The NSG entry is crucial for India's energy policy. China is not blocking India's entry to the NSG. It is only talking about criteria and procedures. I am hopeful that we would be able to convince China to support our entry to the NSG," Swaraj said.

However, Beijing said that its stance does not target any particular country, but applies to all non-NPT countries.

"China maintains that the NSG will fully discuss the accession of non-NPT countries and make decisions based on consultation in a way acceptable to all. China's stance does not target any particular country, but applies to all non-NPT countries," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying.

Hua said China has made it clear that the NSG meetings have never put the accession of any specific non-NPT countries on their agenda.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the upcoming NSG Plenary Meeting in Seoul on June 23 will not cover the matter as well.

"It is worth noting that NSG meetings have never put the accession of any specific non-NPT countries on their agenda. The upcoming NSG Plenary Meeting in Seoul will not cover this issue either. Therefore, there is no point talking about supporting or opposing the entry of a particular non-NPT country at this moment," she said.

With India leaving no stone unturned to ensure its entry into the group, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan capital Tashkent on Thursday in an attempt to win Beijing's support for India's membership.

-ANI