Nearly two days after China had said that admission of non-NPT signatories in NSG cannot be a ‘farewell gift’ for countries to give to each other, India on Thursday said that it’s not seeking NSG membership as a gift.
“India is not seeking NSG membership as a gift, we are seeking it based on our non-proliferation record,” MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a tweet.
His statement carries significance in the wake of China expressing its frustration over outgoing US President Barack Obama's thrust at bringing India into the elite nuclear club.
At the NSG plenary in Seoul in June last year, China blocked India's membership bid on the ground that for a country to be a member of the 48-nation bloc, it has to be a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).