Daily Times

The United States has criticised China for preventing India from joining the prestigious Nuclear Supplier’s Group (NSG).

The outgoing Obama administration has termed China as an outlier that was creating obstacles in the path of India trying to gain entry into the NSG.

Indian media reported that the South and Central Asia Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Desai Biswal said, “Clearly there is one outlier that needs to be addressed and that is China.”

Biswal said that the US President Barack Obama clearly and unequivocally believed that India met the criteria for membership of NSG and the United States readily supported the idea of India’s entry into the NSG.

The assistant secretary said, “We worked very closely with India to support India’s application into the NSG, but we also recognise that there continue to be some concerns and reservations that some of the members of the NSG have expressed that needed to be worked through.”

Biswal said that her administration had made significant progress in this regard. She expressed her reservations over the existence of an outlier that she referred to as China. However, she also expressed the belief that the administration was on a good path with regards to the issue of India’s membership into the NSG.

China’s stance over India’s membership into the NSG is important considering the fact that Pakistan has also applied for membership of the group.