Seoul:
In a major setback for India, non-NPT member countries will not be inducted in the elite Nuclear Suppler Group this time. The decision comes after several key members remained defiant and claimed new membership must be provided only as per rules.
Chinese Ambassador Wang Qun said, "signing NPT first is one of 5 criteria,its not set by China but by group as a whole."
"NSG consensus in favour of a Non Proliferation Treaty, we hope India joins the NPT first," he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged China to support India's NSG bid, but there was no breakthrough on the issue at the meeting of the 48-nation grouping in the face of stiff Chinese-led opposition.
As Modi and the powerful Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Tashkent, some 5000 km away in the South Korean capital, India's case, although not on the formal agenda, came up at a special post-dinner meeting of NSG members, who remained divided over India's entry because it is not a signatory to NPT.
Besides China, which has been publically vocal in its opposition to India's membership, it is understood that countries like Turkey, Austria, New Zealand and Ireland took the stand that no exception can be made in the case of India.
