Credit: PTI/File PhotoBeijing: China sought to de-link its opposition to India’s membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) from Sino-Indian ties on June 23 saying that it does not concern the bilateral relationship.Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that China-India bilateral relations had maintained “sound momentum” and the issue of India’s admission into the NSG did not concern bilateral ties. This comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tashkent today.“President Xi is going to meet Prime Minister Modi in Tashkent. We believe that series of exchanges of visits will deepen our strategic consensus, strategic mutual trust and future development of bilateral relationship,” Hua said at a media briefing.Hua said, “We have repeatedly made positive comments on development ties between India and China. Both are emerging markets that are acquiring more and more significant role in the international affairs. The bilateral relations have maintained sound momentum of growth, thanks to the mutual visits of the leaders by the two countries,” she said.“We have agreed that we would make joint efforts to develop [a] closely knit relationship. Recently, President of India Pranab Mukherjee also paid a successful visit to China,” she said.“On the NSG issue, we have been expounding on our position on this issue. We believe that with regard to the admission of new members, a decision shall be made through discussion within the group,” she said.China has called for consensus among the 48-member group about the admission of countries that have not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Both India and Pakistan, which have applied for the NSG membership, have not signed the NPT. While India’s case is being pushed by the US, China is backing Pakistan.As the NSG kicked off a key meeting in Seoul on June 23, China’s official media continued its tirade against India’s bid for membership in the group with an article defending China’s opposition and attempting to equate Indian and Pakistan nuclear programmes.
