China ''endorses'' Indo-US N Deal : Pranab

New Delhi, Nov 26 (UNI) External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said China had endorsed the Indo-US nuclear deal and expressed confidence that Beijing would not stand in the way of the civil nuclear collaboration between India and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

China is a member of the NSG -- the 45-nation powerful nuclear lobby whose green signal is important for the implementation of the deal.

In an interview with CNN-IBN, Mr Mukherjee, however, said China had not given any indication of support for India's candidature as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Describing the recent visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao as ''reasonably satisfactory'', he said India would accept any nuclear deal between Pakistan and China as ''the ground reality'' making clear that the country would not have serious objections about it.

Speaking about India's concerns on the Indo-US nuclear deal, Mr Mukherjee said ''if they (the US) did not want to do it there was no point in making this exercise at all.'' About US policy -- as opposed to the law which the US Congress is dealing with by granting a waiver -- Mr Mukherjee said these US policies predate July 2005 agreement.

He expressed confidence that the US had taken the Congress on board while agreeing to the Indo-US nuclear deal and therefore he said he expected that India will get a waiver from these policies as well.

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