India's NSG entry will trigger N-race, says China

China on Tuesday said that India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group would “touch a raw nerve” in Pakistan, trigger a race for atomic power and hurt “national interests” of the communist country itself.

“India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers in the region, keep alert to each other’s nuclear capabilities,” a commentary on China’s state-run newspaper Global Times noted. It argued that China’s concern about India’s inclusion in the NSG came “out of the security dynamic in South Asia”.

The Global Times published the article even as New Delhi argued that a seat in the NSG would help address its concerns over uncertainty in the rules for global trade and technology transfer and would thus strengthen its nuclear industry and help make atomic power more competitive globally.

“India’s application for NSG membership and its potential consequences will inevitably touch a raw nerve in Pakistan, its traditional rival in the region. As Pakistan is not willing to see an enlarging gap in nuclear power with India, a nuclear race is a likely outcome. This will not only paralyze regional security, but also jeopardize China's national interests,” Global Times columnist, Wang Wenwen, noted in an article made available online on the website of the newspaper.

“Only when New Delhi and Islamabad take another step forward in their non-proliferation commitments can the region avoid being dragged into a nuclear confrontation,” argued Wang.

He also criticized United States for supporting India’s bid to enter 48-nation cartel.
“With India’s NSG membership, the US, the world's largest producer of nuclear power, can sell its nuclear technology to India,” he wrote. “Beyond cooperation in the nuclear sector, Washington views New Delhi as a balancing actor in its pivot to the Asia-Pacific strategy. Its supply of nuclear technologies to enhance India's deterrence capability is to put China in check,” added Wang.

He wrote that what were missing in “US and Indian motives” were concerns for regional security in South Asia, which is “mired in nuclear confrontation”.

China has been opposing India’s entry into the NSG. Beijing has been arguing that if the NSG bends its rules to admit India, it should also open up its door for Pakistan or any other country that did not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT.

India, which has an ambitious programme to substantially augment its nuclear power generation, believes that its entry into the NSG would give it a say in framing or of the rules for global nuclear trade.

“A stronger Indian nuclear industry can help make nuclear power more competitive globally. Indeed, as our own nuclear industry expands and we go rapidly beyond the 140 nuclear-related export licences that we issued last year, it is also in larger interest that our practices are in conformity with global ones,” Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said in Mumbai on Monday.