NEW DELHI: Foreign secretary
S Jaishankar headed to Seoul on Tuesday for last-minute talks before the NSG plenary takes a call on India’s membership on Friday, and the eleventh-hour diplomacy will also see PM Modi, who will be in Tashkent on Thursday, meeting Chinese President
Xi Jinping and Russian President
Vladimir Putin .
While New Delhi maintains its diplomatic outreach,
France came out in support of India’s membership, asking other members to take a “positive” decision. “France considers that India’s entry into the four multilateral export control regimes (NSG, MTCR, Australia Group, Wassenaar Arrangement) will bolster international efforts on combating proliferation,” said the French foreign ministry in a statement on the eve of the NSG meeting.
Modi’s first meeting in Tashkent is with Xi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. The PM, who has put in a huge amount of energy into the NSG membership bid, is expected to make a high-level pitch for Chinese support to India.
Jaishankar’s visit to Beijing last week was to prepare the ground for this meeting. On Friday afternoon, Modi is scheduled to meet Putin before flying back. An MEA source, confirming Jaishankar’s visit to Seoul, said, “While it is true that the foreign secretary has flown to Seoul, the NSG plenary hasn’t even begun yet. This is a delicate and complex process. At this point, let us not speculate.”
Heading the Indian delegation in Seoul, Jaishankar will be flanked by Amandeep Gill, joint secretary (disarmament and international security), and Vikram Doraiswami, present ambassador to Korea. While Gill has led the nuclear negotiations this time around (Jaishankar had led them during the India-US nuclear deal a decade ago), Doraiswami brings his experience of dealing with both US and China.
The US has pitched for India’s bid this time. It is believed US officials have already held conversations with their Chinese counterparts on India membership. The US message has essentially been this — India is ready to join NSG; it’s record has always been strong, but stronger after 2008, with India fulfilling its commitments, but Pakistan was not at the place that India is at.
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