Representative image

NEW DELHI: The diplomatic war between China and the US over India's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) just got nasty.

Now, China says it "cares about the rules" while the "US just sets the rules."

"We care about rules. US just sets the rules. This is not an issue between China and India but (about) the pillar for non-proliferation system," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said to reporters in a media briefing on Tuesday, when asked to comment on the US backing India's NSG bid.

US has repeatedly backed India

On the face of repeated - sometimes impassioned - requests by the US to NSG members to allow India into the elite club, China on Monday said India's admission to the elite nuclear club is not even on the group's agenda during its current plenary session in Seoul.

The US hit back later on Monday again - for what seemed like the nth time - calling on NSG members to support India's application at the Seoul session.

China hits back at US

On cue, China came back Tuesday to say that it was the US that made the rule against the NSG entry of countries who haven't signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) - India hasn't - so the focus should really be on whether entry criteria to the elite nuclear club should be changed.

"I have not seen the US statement supporting India. But US is one of those who made the rule that non-NPT countries should not join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing.

The NSG is a body concerned with reducing nuclear proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials used to make weapons.

The NPT is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology.

The NPT and Iran

The NPT "is the core of international non-proliferation", Hua underlined. "If the non-proliferation regime is changed how can we explain the Iranian nuclear treaty," she asked.

The US, China Britain France, Germany and Russia signed a historic deal with Iran in July lifting most sanctions against the country once seen as a nuclear villain, in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear program.

"We just had a treaty with Iran. We have North Korean issues there...So this concerns the core issue whether NPT and non proliferation system could be impacted by this," she said.

India has said it won't ever join the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state, because those weapons are integral to its security. In addition, India has maintained that the NPT is very discriminatory.

Hua reiterated what she said yesterday about the issue of India's entry to the NSG not being on the agenda of the Seoul meeting. "According to my understanding, it (entry of new members) is not on the agenda of the NSG meeting in Seoul."

With inputs from Agencies

