India, China hold ‘substantive and constructive’ talks on NSG issue

Following a meeting in New Delhi on September 13, the two countries continued their discussions on the NSG issue in Beijing when Joint Secretary (Disarmament and International Security) Amandeep Singh Gill met Director General of Department of Arms Control Wang Qun, sources said.

“The talks were substantive and constructive. The engagement will continue as per the directive of the leadership,” sources said.

During the talks, India asserted that its implementation of nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) principles was “second to none.”

Signing of the NPT ‘a must’

In the June Plenary of NSG in Seoul, despite a strong American support, China stonewalled India’s bid to get entry into the group on the grounds that it was a not a signatory to the NPT.

Mr. Wang, who was the chief negotiator for China in the South Korea meet, had told reporters that signing of the NPT “is a must”, maintaining that the rule has not been set by China but by the international community.

He had also warned “if exceptions are allowed here or there on the question of NPT, the international non-proliferation regime will collapse altogether.”