China defends its opposition to India's NSG bid

Defending its opposition to entry of non-Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons countries like India into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, China on Friday said it was guided by the rules of the 48-nation grouping which were not directed against any specific country.

It also advocated an "out of the box" thinking to arrive at a consensus over the issue of entry of non-NPT countries into the NSG.

"China wants two things; we must abide by the rules of NSG because these kind of rules are not directed against any specific country. We must strive for consensus by thinking out of the box," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a briefing.

Hua claimed that during the NSG's plenary session in Seoul, China worked together with a couple of other countries to press ahead with the entry of non-NPT states through "creative means".

"This is also major progress achieved at the plenary session. China has been working positively and constructively to that end," she said.

Hua also insisted that the entry of India and other non-NPT states was not on the agenda of the plenary session.

"So it does not make sense to say that China objects their entry. We have seen some media reports in this report. Hope relevant media when making such kinds of reports clear all the facts to avoid misleading the public," Hua said.

Hua's remarks came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought China's support for India's NSG membership.

Modi had urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to make a "fair and objective" assessment of India's application which was before the Seoul plenary as the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The plenary meeting of the nuclear trading club ended on Friday with no decision on India's membership bid as divisions persisted over admitting non-NPT members with China leading the opposition to it.