ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI/BEIJING: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will try to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping separately on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tashkent beginning Thursday.
Prime Minister Modi, during the ‘expected’ meeting, is expected to seek Chinese support from President Xi for India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), an elite club of nuclear supplier countries. On Tuesday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that the two leaders would be meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan.
During his meeting with President Xi, Prime Minister Modi is expected to seek China’s support for India’s bid for the NSG membership. From Pakistan, President Mamnoon Hussain, along with Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and other senior officials, has left for Tashkent to participate in the SCO summit. The president will represent Pakistan at the meeting of the heads of the SCO member states.
On Wednesday, China cleared that India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group was not on the agenda of the talks in Seoul as of now. “As for the entry of non-NPT countries, the group has never put that on its meeting agenda. Based on what we have at hand, the agenda of this year’s Seoul plenary meeting circulated by the chair does not include this issue either,” the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a written statement.
However, the Foreign Ministry acknowledged that three rounds of informal discussions were held along a separate channel on the membership of non-NPT members. “Although parties are yet to see eye to eye on this issue, such discussions help them better understand each other. China hopes to further discuss this issue and will play a constructive role in the discussions.
