As PM Narendra Modi Lands In Washington, A Setback In Beijing For India's NSG Bid

Washington: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Washington for a three-day visit, India's lobbying for the US to push with China for its inclusion in the Nuclear Suppliers Group or NSG has received a setback.

NDTV has learnt that the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue held in Beijing, the last in President Barack Obama's term, has not ended on a positive note.

The US pressed China on creating an industrial glut, by releasing its excess capacity especially in steel, and on the highly sensitive South China Sea dispute.

Beijing has not responded well to the pressure, and in media interactions, Chinese officials have said their stand on India's inclusion into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 48-member club of nuclear trading nations, remains unchanged - it goes hand-in-hand with India signing the NPT (Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty), they said.

India has not signed the NPT on the ground that it is discriminatory.

It is significant that senior US administration leaders such as Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and US Trade Representative Michael Froman are in Beijing during PM Modi's visit to Washington. It is an indication of the US' compulsion to negotiate with China, with whom its relations have been often fractious, ahead of an election year where the anti-China rhetoric has been steeped in both the Republican and Democratic primaries.

And in this scenario, India is not high on President Obama's priorities. The United States' own domestic focus clearly outweighs negotiating on behalf of India, and it is unlikely that a real push will be made from the US side. A head nod without a real step forward is more likely.

India applied for NSG membership last month and PM Modi, who is visiting several countries, added Mexico and Switzerland to his itinerary because both had expressed reservations about India's inclusion. On Monday, he clinched Switzerland's support.

While the US has expressed its firm backing to India's inclusion into the NSG, China has been insisting that there should be consensus among the members about inclusion of countries who have not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
 Officials had hoped for a solution at China-US dialogue ahead of two of key NSG meetings on June 9 in Vienna and June 24 in Seoul, during which the issue is expected to come up.

As India pressed its case, Pakistan too has applied amid reports that China is trying to push the case of its all-weather ally.

So can India manage to leverage the Chinese on its own and convince them to return the favor in exchange of more economic engagement? India had taken up this issue with the top Chinese leadership during President Pranab Mukherjee's visit last month to China, which saw tremendous traction.