India making realistic assessments on NSG: Discussions could go down to the wire

New Delhi, June 22: Can the United States of America swing for India the membership into the NSG. China which has been the prime opponent appears to have toned down its opposition and Pakistan on the other hand has claimed that it has blocked India's entry into the NSG.

The phones lines are working full time with both the US and Japan trying to convince all members to let India gain entry into the NSG.

On the other hand, China is also trying to push Pakistan's case and this could well be a ploy to prevent a consensus. The US is bound to oppose an entry for Pakistan owing to its track record.

Will go down to the wire

India is making every effort to be part of the NSG. Assessments are being made and the idea is to be realistic and understand every hurdle that may come India's way, an official in New Delhi informed OneIndia.

The meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping too will be a crucial one.

The two are scheduled to meet on June 23 on the sidelines of the SCO summit at Tashkent and Modi will bring up the NSG issue. Indian officials are confident, but also say that they are keeping the approach realistic. It can go down to the wire too and we are making all efforts, officials working on the issue point out.

Apart from China, there are chances of opposition from countries such as Ireland, New Zealand and Austria. These nations have always expressed reservations of countries which are non-NPT members being part of the NSG.

On Monday the US called on the NSG members to back India. However China said that discussions should also focus on whether the rules can be changed. The Chinese also said that it was the US which came up with rule in the first place which states that non-NPT countries cannot be part of the NSG.

The next few days will be extremely crucial. A lot would depend on the meeting between the Indian Prime Minister and the Chinese President. China is unlikely to change its position easily, but India continues to be hopeful.

OneIndia News