China not opposed to India's NSG bid, hope to secure entry this year: Sushma

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday said that China was not opposed to India's entry into the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and that it only wanted to deliberate on the process that allows new countries to be a party of the elite group.

"As far as China is concerned, China is not opposing India's entry into NSG, it wants to discuss the criteria based process that would allow new members into the club," Sushma said at a press conference that was held to highlight the achievements of her ministry since the NDA came to power.

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Sushma also claimed that India had no problem with Pakistan's entry into the exclusive grouping and hoped that those with merit would make it to the NSG.

"When it comes to the question of Pakistan, since India is not a member of the NSG yet, we do not have any role to play in opposing somebody's entry. But we are not going to protest the entry of any country and want that the decision would be taken on the country's merit," she said.

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The Minister expressed hope that India would be able to convince China and secure its place in the NSG by the end of this year.

"I am personally in contact with over 23 countries on the matter and only one or two countries raised concern. But in our opinion, we have managed to achieve a broad consensus," Sushma said.

Earlier on Sunday, the ministry had revealed that Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar was sent to China on June 16 and 17 to hold talks with his counterpart on India's NSG membership bid.