New Delhi, September 9
In an attempt to mend fences with New Delhi in the backdrop of what it called the NSG misunderstanding, China today denied that it tried to block unanimity on the India-specific waiver at the 45-member cartel’s meeting in Vienna last week but Indian officials were not convinced by Beijing’s argument. “Even before a consensus was reached, we had made it clear that we have no problem with the draft statement” on the NSG exemption, Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi said after addressing a discussion on India-China strategic partnership while wrapping up a three-day controversial visit to India.
A day after he was virtually cold-shouldered by the Indian leadership as a mark of protest over the manner in which China attempted to derail the consensus at NSG, Yang said China had adopted a ‘responsible and constructive approach’ at both the meeting of the IAEA on August 1 and the NSG session. Ruling out any strategic competition between India and China, he claimed that Beijing’s policy on supporting India at the NSG was set much before the September 4 meeting of the cartel. The Chinese minister smiled when someone in the audience pointed out to him that Beijing’s words that it wanted to strengthen relationship with India did not match its action, “I am glad you raised this issue…I would have been disappointed if nobody had raised,” he said.
Stressing that he wanted to clear the misunderstanding that had cast a shadow on ties between the two countries, Yang said: “When I reached Kolkata (on Sunday), I was in for a big shock at reading reports in the media. I told reporters that facts (about China’s role at NSG) speak louder than words.”
China, he said, fully understood India’s needs for civil nuclear energy. We do know that a big country like India has to rely on others for 75 per cent of its energy needs.”
However, Indian officials were not convinced by the arguments given by the Chinese minister. “It is a case of grapes turning sour…they (China) made every effort to sabotage the nuclear deal. Now that we have got the waiver, they are trying to put an end to the controversy by making sugarcoated statements,” a senior official remarked. Beijing's stance at the NSG has revived a debate in India on whether New Delhi can trust China even as the two countries deepen their economic and strategic
ties.
