Tracking India's Admission into International Groups & Bodies

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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by Varoon Shekhar »

Definitely. Now, India is seriously thinking of calling China an abettor of terror if it continues its policy of shielding Azhar.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by Rakesh »

India’s NSG membership can’t be farewell gift
http://indianexpress.com/article/world/ ... s-4476997/
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by Nikhil T »

Rakesh wrote:India’s NSG membership can’t be farewell gift
http://indianexpress.com/article/world/ ... s-4476997/
The tone of the statement shocked me. This is a China that is willing to troll both current and incoming US presidents.

Not far ago, in 2008 China was brow beaten at NSG to provide a waiver to India. 8 years later they are brazenly standing alone in the world on several issues- South China sea, Masood Azhar, and India's NSG and UNSC membership.

I know our policymakers must be studying this new arrogance very closely. I won't be surprised if feelers have gone out to the dragon that along with Trump, India is reassessing the one China policy.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by svinayak »

Nikhil T wrote:
Not far ago, in 2008 China was brow beaten at NSG to provide a waiver to India. 8 years later they are brazenly standing alone in the world on several issues- South China sea, Masood Azhar, and India's NSG and UNSC membership.
Now you see how the trap is put
It takes time for the trap to be setup
In 2016 China is upholding the merits if NPT and how countries must adhere to the standards of NPT.
It makes sure that China is within the system.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by SSridhar »

svinayak wrote:Now you see how the trap is put
It takes time for the trap to be setup
In 2016 China is upholding the merits if NPT and how countries must adhere to the standards of NPT.
It makes sure that China is within the system.
What trap? China talks of NPT vis-a-vis India's admission into NSG but is itself happily proliferating to Pakistan without any let or hindrance. China, like any great power playing realpolitik, will choose to be inside the system whenever it wants to and outside otherwise.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by JohnTitor »

Nikhil T wrote:The tone of the statement shocked me. This is a China that is willing to troll both current and incoming US presidents.

Not far ago, in 2008 China was brow beaten at NSG to provide a waiver to India. 8 years later they are brazenly standing alone in the world on several issues- South China sea, Masood Azhar, and India's NSG and UNSC membership.

I know our policymakers must be studying this new arrogance very closely. I won't be surprised if feelers have gone out to the dragon that along with Trump, India is reassessing the one China policy.
China has learnt to play the big game. For most of India's lifetime (post independence), India was always the "good guy" - playing by the rules etc. The majority of politicians in the past had no idea about the country's interests, an example is Nehru donating back land to Pak after the army shed blood for it. Another example is the same bafoon donating the SC seat to China after it was offered to us on a platter.

India has a long way to go. One of the reasons for this is the infighting within the country (intolerance, award wapsi and whatnot), it is difficult to project political power abroad. Indians and Indian politicians undermine federal government office bearers at every instance to score political points at home, sad.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by Rakesh »

Rakesh wrote:India’s NSG membership can’t be farewell gift
http://indianexpress.com/article/world/ ... s-4476997/
Not seeking NSG berth as gift but on non-proliferation record: India to China
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... 669370.cms
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by svinayak »

Rakesh wrote:
Rakesh wrote:India’s NSG membership can’t be farewell gift
http://indianexpress.com/article/world/ ... s-4476997/
Not seeking NSG berth as gift but on non-proliferation record: India to China
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... 669370.cms
China's remark on this is the dialogue with USA on the norms of NSG which China has been discussing for several decades.

This is a shadow boxing between China and USA on keeping the position of China as a premier country in Asia and the world in various world bodies.

As per China;s view USA has betrayed China by allowing another country into the world body. This country;s sole motive according to China is to get prestige and access without satisfying the criteria.

China also feels that NSG has hegemony by not giving equal treatment to other applying for the membership
By denying India any progress during the NSG November session Chinese leadership developed arrogance so now it can control the cartel to its wishes.

Indian military test of Agni V ICBM and Agni IV missiles ensured that China cannot be the sole leader in the asian region and
cannot hold the NSG in hostage
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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V.K. Singh: India’s NSG bid has members’ widespread support - PTI
No member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has “explicitly” opposed India’s membership to the grouping while certain procedural and process-related issues have been raised by a few members, the government said on Thursday.

General V.K. Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs, has also said India’s membership continues to be under NSG’s consideration and the government remains engaged with all its members at the appropriate levels for an early decision on Indian bid.

“India’s application for the NSG membership enjoys widespread support of the members of the group...While no member of the group has explicitly opposed India’s membership, certain procedural and process-related issues have been raised by a few members,” Gen. Singh said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Engaging with China

India’s NSG bid was scuttled by China and a few other countries on the grounds that it was not a signatory to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Replying to another question, Gen. Singh said India’s engagement with China was multifaceted and the two sides have agreed to continue with it at various levels to enhance mutual understanding and trust and to address outstanding issues in the spirit of showing mutual respect and sensitivity to each other’s interests, concerns and aspirations.

A new bilateral dialogue mechanism to discuss regional and international security issues has also been agreed to, he added.
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'Convergence' on UNSC reforms, don't slide back: India - IANS
India has cautioned against questioning the "convergence" of views that took the negotiation process for Security Council reforms forward instead of building up on that progress.

India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin told a meeting of the Inter Governmental Negotiations (IGN) on Council reforms on Monday that the paper produced in the last session of the General Assembly stressed that the points of convergence should be built and there could be no progress without a negotiating document.

He said that when the chair of the last IGN session, Sylvie Lucas, presented the paper, "no one questioned how many spoke and how many did not".

"Why go down that path now?" he asked alluding to attempts by some members to scuttle the convergence document.

"The process at this stage has all the conditions to build on the work of previous sessions and to move forward based on the work already done by your predecessors," he told the co-chairs of the current IGN session, Mohamed Khaled Khiari of Tunisia, and Ambassador Ion Jinga of Romania.

The task of reforming the Council and enlarging it to make it more representative had been blocked for almost two decades by the opposition of some members led by Italy - and including Pakistan - to having a negotiating text. Without such a document, negotiations are not possible.

In the 2014-15 session of the Assembly, due to the initiative of its President Sam Kutesa, a negotiating text based on a survey of members was adopted paving the way for serious discussions and giving the process a boost.

In the last session, that momentum was lost, but there was slight progress with the document on convergence.

It only said that an "enlarged Council should consist of a total of members in the mid-20s, within an overall range of 21-27 seats, with the exact number to emerge from the discussions of Member States on the key issues of 'categories of membership' and 'regional representation'."

Akbaruddin criticised the status of the reform process as "neither natural nor normal".

It was "not normal and not natural that, we, as responsible representatives of states continue to cocoon ourselves from the enormity of the changes underway and articulate views endlessly with no framework for setting our house in order," he said.

The Council was suffering form "legitimacy deficit" that is miring it in inefficacy and irrelevance, he said.

"At a time of growing dismay with the existing international order, our persistent inability to move the reform process forward is viewed as the inability of the multilateral system to fix what is broken," Akbaruddin said.

"We are at a cross road from where reform is the only way to maintain relevance," he said, appealing to the co-chairs of the IGN to "breathe new life into the process".
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 539387.cms
UNITED NATIONS: India and other members of the G4+ have offered to initially forgo veto powers as permanent members in a reformed Security Council+ as a bargaining chip to get the reform process moving.
"The issue of veto is important, but we should not allow it to have a veto over the process of Council reform itself," said India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin, who was speaking on Tuesday on behalf of the G4 at the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) on Council reforms.
While the new permanent members would in principle have veto powers that the current five have, Akbaruddin said, "they shall not exercise the veto until a decision on the matter has been taken during a review".
India, Brazil, Germany and Japan constitute the G4, which lobbies for Council reforms and they mutually support each other's candidatures for permanent seats+ on an expanded body.
.......................
However, Uniting for Consensus (UfC), a 13-member group that includes Pakistan [Other illustrious members are Turkey, Italy, Canada, SoKo and Argentina, does spain figure in illustrious], opposed expanding permanent membership and suggested instead the creation of a new category of elected membership with longer terms than the current two years.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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‘No change in India’s stance on UNSC veto’ - Suhasini Haidar, The Hindu
India is ready to accept a United Nations (UN) permanent Security Council seat without using a veto for the first 15 years, the MEA confirmed here on Thursday.

Answering questions on the stand taken by India’s Ambassador to the UN on Wednesday where he addressed the General Assembly’s Inter Governmental Negotiations on behalf of Brazil, Germany, India and Japan (called the G-4), MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said there had been “no change in the government’s position” on securing veto power at the UNSC, but India did not wish to “impede” the process.

In his submission Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin had said that India and other G-4 countries were ready to accept a moratorium on using the veto.


“While the new permanent members would as a principle have the same responsibilities and obligations as current permanent members they shall not exercise the veto until a decision on the matter has been taken during a review [expected after 15 years],” Mr. Akbaruddin said. “The Indian Ambassador’s statement merely stresses that the matter of veto need not be made into something to protract urgently needed reforms of the Security Council,” added Mr. Baglay. According to officials, India is hopeful that the Chairpersons of the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) will now put out a text recording every country’s views to take the reforms to the next step.

Showing flexibility

“This is one way of keeping the process going, and to show some flexibility on our part,” explained Chinmaya Garekhan, former Indian Ambassador to the UN.

However, Mr. Garekhan said that he doubted India could uphold the moratorium if there were any resolutions at the UNSC that affected India directly.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 573150.cms
India and Pakistan could be officially admitted as full members of China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation security grouping during a key summit later this year in Kazakhstan, its Secretary-General has said.
....
Afghanistan, Belarus, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have "observer" status. The grouping's 2015 summit in Ufa in Russia formally adopted a resolution starting the procedures to admit India and Pakistan into the SCO.

Both the countries signed a Memorandum of Obligations to join the organisation during last year's summit in Tashkent.
....
The membership of India and Pakistan is expected to mitigate their conflict and may even push them to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Li claimed.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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Donald Trump administration also backs India's NSG bid - PTI
The US today said it is working with India and NSG members to push for New Delhi's membership in the elite grouping, indicating that there is no change in America's policy on the issue under the Trump administration.

"The United States supports India's full membership in the four multilateral export control regimes, and we believe that India is ready for NSG membership," a State Department spokesperson told PTI.

The spokesperson was responding to questions on the position of the Trump administration on India's bid to be a member of the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).


The United States and India have been working on this issue since the Bush Administration. Despite its best effort, the Obama administration could not get the job done due to opposition from China. The baton now has been passed on to the Trump administration.

"We have worked and continue to work closely with our Indian counterparts and the NSG Participating Governments to help advance India's case for membership," the State Department official said, indicating that there has been no change in the US policy towards India's NSG membership bid under the Trump administration.

The key to India's membership now lies with China.

However, it is not clear if new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who would be in China this week, would be raising this issue with the Chinese leadership or if President Donald Trump is ready to take up the issue himself as was done by President George Bush.

Trump is set to host his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Florida next month.

In January, the then South and Central Asia point person of the Obama administration, Nisha Desai Biswal, had described China as an "outlier" on the NSG issue.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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New Delhi gets ready to welcome Turkish President - Suhasini Haidar, The Hindu
NSG session

Mr. Erdogan’s visit will also come a month ahead of the Nuclear Suppliers Group plenary session where India will once again push its bid for membership. In June 2016, Turkey had backed a “process-based” approach for inducting members, and was understood to have wanted both Pakistan and India to be considered together. Turkey’s close ties with Pakistan, including a strategic partnership between them, have led to the two countries aligning themselves on several issues.
Turkey is also a member of the Uniting for Consensus group of countries that oppose U.N. Security Council Memberships to be increased, another source of friction between the two countries, where India would like to see some flexibility.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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German Bhai's interests in Indian ocean
Interestingly, Germany is, for the first time, directing significant foreign policy interest in the Indian Ocean, working with India on it.
They believe a global competition is shaping up over the Indian Ocean, and as a major trading power, Germany has an interest in ensuring the Indian Ocean remains a rules-based and stable area. Just as India is working on its own plans for the littoral states, Germany too is developing a "maritime agenda" for the rim states, German sources said.
That ways we also have interests in Baltic sea.
But as China and the US veer towards very different directions, Berlin and New Delhi are coming to the conclusion that closer cooperation might be more necessary than ever.
Where is Germany at logger heads with MP-Lol 11(Empe-lol Xi Gin-Ping)?
Both countries have their own spheres of influence and "at a time when the global free trade system is under pressure and the US is retrenching, we both feel we have to take greater responsibility for our regions."
[The call with DT didnt go that well]
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by Gagan »

They want to sell the U-216 sub to the IN. IN will be the launch customer of this
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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with the current count of subs, especially after the DCNS leak anything that comes quick should be welcome
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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China stays firm, but other countries may back India’s NSG bid - Indrani Bagchi, ToI
Some countries who had been opposed to India's membership bid to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) may be coming around to being more accepting of India's candidature. "There is a greater buy-in from these countries", said senior German diplomatic sources. A consultative group meeting of the NSG is currently on, where India's membership is being discussed.

Needless to add, China is not among these countries.
The evolution in positions has been a result of continued backroom diplomacy said sources familiar with developments. The US, last week, reiterated its support for India's membership, but with China remaining the most powerful outlier, India's chances are no brighter today than earlier.

Markus Ederer, Germany's foreign secretary, met his counterpart S Jaishankar to take forward the key elements of the relationship as both countries prepare for a key inter-governmental commission meeting in Berlin in May. PM Narendra Modi will be traveling to Germany twice this year - once in May and then again for the G-20 summit in Hamburg in July.
This link has been posted above with portions irrelevant to this thread.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by ranjan.rao »

^^yes started with posting it and then realized there is hardly anything new except the interest of Germany in IOR. Apologies, in hurry posted the A' instead of A.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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India will become permanent member of UN Security Council: Swaraj - PTI
Expressing confidence that India would become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj today said the country expected that the new members would have the same rights, including the veto power+ , as the existing permanent members.

During the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, Swaraj said India has all the credentials to become a permanent member of the Security Council+ and four permanent members, US, UK, France and Russia have extended support.

The fifth member, China, has also "not publicly opposed it", the external affairs minister said.


"I am confident that if not this time, then next time, India would become a permanent member of the Security Council," she said.

To a question whether India would also get the 'veto' power, Swaraj said the country wants the same responsibilities, prerogatives as well as obligations as the current permanent members.

"We don't want any discrimination between old and new members. We don't want two classes - that there is a first class and a second class of permanent members. This should make it clear that India wants the same responsibilities, prerogatives and obligations as the current permanent members," she said.

She said India has been making diplomatic efforts to ensure not only expansion but also reform in the Security Council. She said India wanted expansion of its permanent as well as non-permanent membership of the council.

In her reply tabled in the House, Swaraj said on the issue of extending veto powers to new permanent members in their submission during the inter-governmental negotiation process of the 69th General Assembly, USA and UK opposed extension of veto to new members.

France supported the extension while Russia and China did not make any submission on the issue, she said.

She said discussions were currently on in the UN General Assembly through inter-governmental negotiation and India and other pro-reform groupings have been calling commencement of text based negotiations.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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As the date nears for the June, 2017 plenary of the NSG, a nervous Pakistan wants to throw some falsehood, for which purpose it has planted its own guy from Quaid-e-Azam University in Belfer Center and asked him to produce a paper.

Pakistan accuses India of diverting nuclear material obtained under NSG waiver to make weapons
Pakistan has accused India of diverting nuclear materials it had obtained for peaceful purposes under the NSG waiver to make weapons.

Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria yesterday told reporters that Pakistan has been underscoring for decades the risks of diversion by India of imported nuclear fuel, equipment and technology, received pursuant to civil nuclear cooperation agreements and the 2008 Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) waiver.

"The concerns over diversion are neither new nor unfounded. India enjoys the rare distinction of diverting nuclear material, obtained on its peaceful use commitment, to its nuclear weapons programme," he said.

"The past and potential misuse of nuclear materials by India entails not only serious issues of nuclear proliferation but also carry grave implications for strategic stability in South Asia and national security of Pakistan."

He said media reports and papers substantiate an otherwise largely "ignored fact" that India's nuclear weapons programme is the fastest growing in the world.

Talking about a paper recently released by Harvard Kennedy School, he said that this paper and other several reports corroborate growing concerns related to the use of nuclear material acquired by India from abroad in its existing and future unsafeguarded nuclear reactors, plants and facilities for development of nuclear weapons.

"The recent Belfer paper inter alia concludes that India has accumulated nuclear material for over 2600 nuclear weapons," he said.

He said that NSG states have a responsibility to take into account these well-founded concerns while considering transfer of nuclear material to India and its NSG membership bid.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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NSG likely to meet next month, slim chance of India's entry - PTI

Most definitely no entry for us in to NSG this time as China should be smarting from India's stand on OBOR.
The next plenary session of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is likely to be held in Swiss capital Bern next month, but the chances of any breakthrough on India's entry into the elite group still look slim, given China's persistent opposition to it.

India had officially applied for membership of the grouping which controls export of nuclear materials, equipment and technology in May last year.
The matter came up for discussion at the Seoul plenary session of the NSG in June last year, but yielded little result with Beijing scuttling India's bid on the ground that it was not a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

Ahead of the next NSG plenary session, official sources say, India has renewed its efforts to become a member of the 48-nation group by engaging with all member countries, but resistance from China still remains despite the pro-India push from other key players such as the US, the UK, France and Russia.

China has been pressing for a two-step process which includes setting up criteria - a standard for admission -- for the inclusion of countries that are not signatories to the NPT. Beijing also equates India's case with Pakistan, which, too, has applied for the NSG membership.

The issue of India's membership is expected to be discussed at the Bern meet, but the "status quo" still remains, a senior official says.

Indicating that there was no change in China's position towards India's NSG bid, Chinese Ambassador here Luo Zhaohui at an event last month had said, "On the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) issue, we do not oppose any country's membership, believing that a standard for admission should be agreed upon first."

India has repeatedly said that China is the "one country" which has been blocking its bid.

The two sides conducted two rounds of talks between China's nuclear negotiator Wang Qun and India's then secretary for disarmament Amandeep Singh Gill on September 13 and October 31 last year.

The NSG consultative group's meeting in November last year also ended like the Seoul plenary session. It remained inconclusive on India's application as China continued to oppose the entry of non-NPT nations and called for a two-step "non-discriminatory" solution for admission of such countries into the grouping.

Over the last one year, India has tried to get more support for its NSG bid, but not all its efforts have proved to be successful. For instance, Turkey has agreed to support India's bid to the group, but it also favours Pakistan's bid. New Zealand has also not given any concrete assurance on supporting India's bid.

"Prime Minister (John Phillip) Key stated that New Zealand would continue to contribute constructively to the process currently underway in the NSG to consider India's membership. New Zealand is committed to working with NSG members to reach a decision as soon as possible," a joint statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Kiwi counterpart John Key said after the latter's visit to New Delhi in October last year.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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No change in stand on India's entry into NSG: China -PTI
China on Monday said there is no change in its stance on admission of non-NPT states into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), marring India's chances of entering the 48-member elite club at its crucial meeting next month.

China's support is crucial for India as new membership in the NSG+ is guided by the consensus principle.

"China's position on the non-NPT members' participation in the NSG has not changed," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing.

She was responding to a question about the chances of India's admission into the grouping during the next month's plenary session expected to take place in the Swiss capital, Bern.

"We support the NSG group following the mandate of the 2016 Seoul plenary session and following building consensus as well as inter-governmental process is open and transparent to deal with the relevant issue in a two-step approach," Hua said.

After India applied for membership in the NSG, Pakistan — the all-weather ally of China — also submitted its membership bid with Beijing's backing.
While India is backed by the US+ and a number of western countries, China maintained that new members should sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

India is not a signatory to the NPT. India says it will not sign the NPT as it regards it discriminatory.

After a series of meetings between officials of India and China, Beijing backed a two-step approach which stipulates that the NSG members first need to arrive at a set of principles for the admission of non-NPT states into the NSG and then move forward with the discussions on specific cases.

Analysts here [Beijing] say that with the bilateral discord between India and China increasing, especially after India's boycott of last week's Belt and Road Forum+ (BRF), China's stand on India's admission into the NSG as well as on the UN listing of JeM leader Masood Azhar+ will be further hardened.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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SSridhar wrote:No change in stand on India's entry into NSG: China -PTI
China on Monday said there is no change in its stance on admission of non-NPT states into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), marring India's chances of entering the 48-member elite club at its crucial meeting next month.
snipped...
Analysts here [Beijing] say that with the bilateral discord between India and China increasing, especially after India's boycott of last week's Belt and Road Forum+ (BRF), China's stand on India's admission into the NSG as well as on the UN listing of JeM leader Masood Azhar+ will be further hardened.
At this point India should submit a proposal to NSG to remove China from NSG since it is a known proliferator of Nuclear weapons and Delivery Systems to NK and Pakistan. Post this there will be no opposition to NSG for India.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by ArjunPandit »

tandav wrote:
At this point India should submit a proposal to NSG to remove China from NSG since it is a known proliferator of Nuclear weapons and Delivery Systems to NK and Pakistan. Post this there will be no opposition to NSG for India.
I fail to understand why this govt is still maintaining the lofty high ground against the chinese? By supporting Masood Azhar, China has publicly slapped us. This step is the least we should do against china, in addition to a stated policy of nuking those who helped get porkistan get their nukes
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by Supratik »

India aligning tech and export control laws in line with Wassenar and Australia group in preparation of joining them. From youtube. Source unknown.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by rgosain »

Supratik wrote:India aligning tech and export control laws in line with Wassenar and Australia group in preparation of joining them. From youtube. Source unknown.
Why now?
What are the pros and cons for these groups to exclude India as they have done in the past?
Where is the PRC in all of this
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by Vips »

Do not have link for the below newsitem. Got it from the Indian dhaga on the unmentionable forum.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The SCOMET list includes those goods and technology which can be used for both civil and military applications and need government authorization for exporting out of the country. India's Ministry of Commerce & Industry notified changes in the SCOMET from time to time in order to implement obligations in the field of non-proliferation.

"A significant number of changes to SCOMET have been carried out to adopt the regulations and lists of the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group, two multilateral export control regimes that India wishes to join," a release sent by India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said.

Countries that wish to become a member of multilateral export control regimes need to ensure that exports are not accessed by proliferators, terrorist groups and non-state actors.

"These regulations are an important step to address such concerns. Further, global supply chains are increasingly interconnected. Adoption of these regulations is expected to act as an enabler for a greater role for Indian industry in global supply chains for high technology and value-added items and strategic sector items."

The updated list includes 16 broad categories of products which need approval from India's Department of Defense Production. The new Category 8 of SCOMET is, ‘Special materials and related equipment, material processing, electronics, computers, telecommunications, information security, sensors and lasers, navigation and avionics, marine, aerospace and propulsion'.

India aims to join the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group in the next few months. "Joining the Wassenaar agreement will integrate India with the global efforts for non-proliferation and facilitate India's defense trade. But firstly, India has to expand the range of exportable products, because currently it has limited overseas markets and predominance of defense manufacturers who have been in the business far longer than India poses major challenges." Amit Cowshish, former financial advisor to India's Defense Ministry, said.

In 2015, the Indian government had made changes to export items like warships, tanks, armored vehicles, ammunition, rifles and small arms, military training equipment, electronic warfare devices, software, bombs and torpedoes.

The Narendra Modi government has taken several steps since 2014, including eight times jump in granting an export license to the private sector, to achieve a six-fold increase in defense exports worth $2 billion from the current level in the next two years.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by SSridhar »

In late 2010, during President Obama’s trip to India in November, the US announced its intention to make India’s entry into NSG, MTCR , the Australia Group and Wassenar Arrangement even by amending the rules for membership of these fora.

The Australia Group controls the spread of chemical and biological weapons.

The Wassenar group controls spread of conventional weapons and dual-use items
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by Dumal »

http://www.rediff.com/news/report/india ... 170605.htm

India's NSG bid has become 'more complicated,' says China
June 05, 2017 13:36 IST

'About the Nuclear Suppliers Group, it is a new issue under the new circumstances and it is more complicated than previously imagined,' China's Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Li Huilai told a media briefing.

China on Monday said India's membership bid in the NSG has become "more complicated" under the "new circumstances" as it again ruled out backing New Delhi's entry
in the grouping, saying there should be non-discriminatory solution applicable to all non-NPT signatory countries.

China has been blocking India's membership in the 48-nation grouping which controls the nuclear commerce even though India has the backing of majority of the members.

The group goes by consensus approach on the admission of new members.

"About the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) it is a new issue under the new circumstances and it is more complicated than previously imagined," China's Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Li Huilai told media briefing in Beijing.

He, however, did not elaborate what are the new circumstances and complications.

"China supports the NSG to have consultation for reaching non-discriminatory and universally applicable solution, applicable to all members of the NSG," he said.

.....
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

Post by ArjunPandit »

China still sticking to its guns
If we believe in this happening, then we might as well start believing in ghosts and fairy tales. The fact is china has taken a very firm stand that it will not see India being propped up and sitting on the same high table.
Perhaps the Indian govt has belived right now the time to up the ante against china has not come thats why we do not hear any significant noises or proactive actions about the sins of china.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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India is all set for SCO membership; eyes NSG, too - Nyanima Basu, Business Line
India is going to officially become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on June 9, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the issue of India’s membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

On Wednesday, Modi left for the 17th SCO Summit, taking place in Astana on June 8-9.

Meanwhile, Modi is expected to raise the issue of India’s membership to the NSG during a meeting with Chinese President Xi, scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the SCO summit. {I don't know why we are doing this. Looks like begging to me, unless of course we want to show to others that it is not due to our lack of trying . . .}
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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Centre's 'secret machinery' to push its NSG bid - Indrani Bagchi, Economic Times
With the NSG plenary approaching this week, India is much more circumspect about its lobbying efforts after last year's high decibel disaster.

But behind the scenes, quiet efforts are on to keep the Indian interest alive with other members of the NSG. MEA secretaries have been engaging with ambassadors of key countries like Brazil to push the Indian case.

Last week, new Korean President Moon Jae-in sent his special envoy Dongchea Chung to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Korea is the outgoing chair of NSG, and the issue featured in the conversation, though both sides are tight-lipped about it.

Meanwhile, the incoming chair, Switzerland, has said it continues to support India's candidature. Pierre-Alain Eltschinger, spokesperson of the Swiss foreign ministry told TOI, "We support India's application for participation in the NSG and acknowledge India's support to global non-proliferation efforts. We are of the view that it would contribute to strengthening global non-proliferation efforts if all countries having relevant nuclear technology and being suppliers of such technology were to become NSG members."


However, a sign that there will be little movement this week came from Beijing, where the foreign ministry spokesperson said there was "no change" in China's position on non-NPT members in the NSG. "On the issue of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), I can tell you China's stance on the accession of new members into NSG has not changed," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

In previous years, China was reluctant to be left isolated in multilateral settings. Now with greater power, China cares less for such niceties, if they go against China's national position.

India has asked Russia to intercede with China on India's behalf, but so far there are no indications that this has borne fruit. Until last year, India depended on the US to do the heavy lifting on its behalf.

The Trump administration has not articulated any position on this, but Richard Stratford, an old hand with nuclear matters vis-a-vis India, is currently the acting assistant secretary of state in charge. In 2011, Stratford first broached the subject of India's entry into NSG by circulating a "non-paper" for members to chew on, where he tried to work around the NPT criteria demand. But it's not clear he has any clear political direction this time and no one is burning up phone lines in Washington as in 2008.

After the last NSG plenary, the South Korean chair Song Young-wan appointed former Argentinian diplomat Rafael Mariano Grossi to work out a template for inducting non-NPT members after consultation with the various members, particularly the ones who had had issues with the procedure.

In December, this process came to a close, with a Grossi draft that contained a checklist of criteria including on separation of civil and military facilities, IAEA safeguards, commitment not use transfers for military purposes, commitment on no nuclear test, support CTBT, and that India would not stop other non-NPT members like Pakistan if they fulfilled the conditions.

India would have little trouble with these criteria, but would not go beyond the commitment made by former foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee in 2008. On CTBT, India maintains its position that it is "committed to a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing" as was articulated after the 1998 tests and affirmed by Mukherjee in 2008.


India has recently quibbled with the word "criteria", with foreign minister Sushma Swaraj saying, "we prefer that we are judged not on criteria but on our credentials." The difference is minuscule. India is seeking to burnish those credentials by ramping up its civilian nuclear capacity, adding 10 new 700 MW reactors with domestic industry playing a big role.

In his answers to TOI, Eltschinger emphasised the "non-discriminatory" nature of the exercise, a nod to the Chinese official position, promising to play a "neutral, transparent and inclusive" role. "Such a membership should be based on common, objective and non-discriminatory commitments with respect to nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear disarmament and peaceful use of nuclear energy."

Meanwhile, PM Modi worked on Germany and Spain during his recent European tour and even dropped a quiet word in Xi Jinping's ear in Astana. In 2016, the Chinese had objected to the energetic lobbying at the top level, saying that wasn't "their way". Countries like the Netherlands, also on India's side, have been working on holdouts like Ireland and Austria.

Last year, India managed to get into MTCR by stealth diplomacy. This year, it appears to be trying it out for the NSG, though with little chances of success this time around. It was to dampen expectations that Swaraj said: "sometime, somewhere, we will overcome."
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley - The Hindu
Mr. Jaitley said India was all set to “join the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement” very soon which would “further simplify the regulations”.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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China still says no to India's NSG membership - PTI
China again said on Friday that there is no change in its stance on admission of non-NPT states into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), marring India's chances of entering the elite club at its crucial meeting currently underway in Bern.

"As for non-NPT counties being admitted to the group, I can tell you there is no change to China's position," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing.

He was replying to a question whether there is any change in China's stand at the plenary meeting taking place in the Swiss capital, Bern.
"I want to point out that the NSG has clear rules on admission of new members and the Seoul plenary made clear mandates on how to deal with this issue. With these rules and mandates, we need to act as they dictate," he said.

"As for the criteria regarding admitting new members, as far as I know this plenary meeting in Switzerland will follow mandate of the Seoul plenary and uphold principle of decision upon consensus and continue to discuss various dimensions like technology, law, legal and political aspects of non-NPT countries admission the group," he said.

China's stand, stonewalling India's admission, has become a major stumbling block in bilateral relations between the two countries.
After India's application for entry into the 48-member elite group which controls the nuclear trade, Pakistan, the all-weather ally of China, too had applied with the tacit backing of Beijing.

While India, which is backed by the US and a number of western countries has garnered the support of a majority of the group's members, China has stuck to its stand that new members should sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), making India's entry difficult as the group is guided by the consensus principle. India is not a signatory to the NPT.

After a series of meetings, China has backed a two-step approach which stipulates that the NSG members first need to arrive at a set of principles for the admission of non-NPT states into the NSG and then move forward with discussions of specific cases.

The Bern meeting is being regarded significant as it is taking place after Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly took up the issue of India's accession to NSG with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during their recent meeting at Astana on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

Asked about the cooperation between India and the US on the Indo-Pacific region, including the disputed South China Sea which was expected to figure during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to US, Geng said the situation in the South China Sea is cooling down.

"With the concerted efforts of China and ASEAN countries the situation there is cooling down. We hope other countries especially non-regional countries can respect efforts by the regional countries to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea and can play constructive role in this regard," he said.
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Re: Tracking India's Admission into International Groups

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NSG plenary fails to take decision on India's membership - PTI
A plenary meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group failed to take a decision on India's application for its membership, but decided to discuss in November the issue of entry of non-NPT signatories.

China, a key member of the NSG, has been stridently opposing India's bid primarily on the grounds that New Delhi is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Its opposition has made India's entry into the grouping difficult as the NSG works on the principle of consensus.

"The NSG had discussions on the issue of 'Technical, Legal and Political Aspects of the participation of non-NPT states in the NSG'.

"The group decided to continue its discussion and noted the intention of the chair to organise an informal meeting in November," the NSG said in a statement
at the end of the two- day plenary meeting in the Swiss capital Bern.

The 48-nation elite grouping said its relationship with India was discussed, particularly about implementation of the 2008 statement on civil nuclear cooperation with New Delhi.

In 2008, the NSG had agreed to grant India a unique waiver from its rules governing civilian nuclear trade, paving the way for the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal.

"At the plenary meeting, the NSG also continued to consider all aspects of the implementation of the 2008 statement on civil nuclear cooperation with India and discussed the NSG relationship with India," the statement said.

During the plenary, which was chaired by Ambassador Benno Laggner of Switzerland, the NSG member-states reiterated their firm support for the "full, complete and effective" implementation of the NPT as the cornerstone of the international non-proliferation regime.
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