India, China talks hit dead end

New Delhi/Beijing: India’s efforts for a breakthrough with China on two contentious issues — Masood Azhar and NSG membership — seemed to have hit a dead end during a strategic dialogue between the two sides in Beijing on Wednesday.

So much so that India hit out at China for demanding “solid evidence” for getting JeM chief Azhar banned by the UN, saying his actions were “well-documented”, and the “burden of proof” was not on it.

On its bid to become a full-fledged member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a 48-member grouping of countries that trades in civil nuclear technology, India said China has its “own view of procedures and processes”. India’s foreign secretary S. Jaishankar was quoted by news agencies in China as saying, “On the issue of sanctions on Azhar, we again explained the rationale and pointed out that it was really pursued by other countries, not by India alone.”

He was referring to a US move backed by the UK and France this year to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, which was blocked by Beijing.

Mr Jaishankar briefed the media in Beijing on his extensive interactions with top Chinese officials and talks at the strategic dialogue co-chaired by him.  “…In this case what he (Azhar) has done, extent of his actions are well-documented… Also, the proposal in question this time is not moved by us. It is not that the burden of proof is on India to convince. The sponsors seem to be very well convinced, otherwise they would not have taken the initiative to move the proposal,” he said.

About China saying that there is no consensus on the issue, the foreign secretary said, “there is no consensus because China has not joined it”.

“On the NSG issue, (the) Chinese side underlined that they are open to India’s application for membership. They have their view of procedures and processes. These were different from where we are at the moment, and most of the group is at the moment,” he said, referring to the support to India’s application enjo-yed in the elite grouping.