New Delhi, Nov 26: China has "endorsed" the
Indo-US civil nuclear deal during the just-concluded visit of
President Hu Jintao here, External Affairs Minister Pranab
Mukherjee has said.
He also expressed confidence that Beijing will not
stand in New Delhi's way in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
when it considers changing its guidelines for allowing the
world community to have civil nuclear trade with India.
Mukherjee, who described Hu's visit here as
"reasonably satisfactory", indicated that India will have no
problems if China has a deal with Pakistan similar to Indo-US
agreement.
"China has endorsed it," Mukherjee told a TV channel in an
interview when asked whether the mention of "international
civilian nuclear cooperation should be advanced through
innovative and forward-looking approaches" in the joint
declaration meant that china has endorsed the Indo-US deal.
Asked by interviewer whether it meant
that China won't stand in the way of international civilian
nuclear cooperation between the NSG and India, he said, "I
hope so...There is no uncertainty. I hope that they will not
come in the way."
When asked whether he was confident, he said, "I am
confident."
On reports that China may offer Pakistan a nuclear
deal similar to the Indo-US agreement, Mukherjee said, "Relationship with one country need not stand in the way of relationship with another. We shall have to keep that fact always in view whilst assessing the relationship between two
countries."
He said, "We shall have to recognise the fact that
different countries have different relationships with
different countries keeping in view their own perspectives."
To press his argument, he pointed out that Pakistan is being supplied
sophisticated weapons by the US while India is getting
military hardware from Russia.
"But that need not stand in the way of building up
closer relationships with each other," he said.
Mukherjee also dismissed as "speculative" media
reports that Hu, during his meeting with Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, had indicated that China will support India's
candidature for permanent membership of the UN Security
Council.
On Hu's visit, the first by a Chinese President in a
decade, the Minister said, "It was reasonably satisfactory."
To a question about China's plans to forge close
political links with Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and
Sri Lanka to tie down India, Mukherjee said, "What China
intends, what China thinks, has surely been taken into account
in my strategic consideration.”
"...(But) I do not believe in the containment
(theory). We have gone one step beyond that. We have invited
China to be the observer of SAARC which they were not earlier.
This is an indication of enlargement of cooperation, not a
policy of containment of anybody."
When referred to China's intentions to form a military
encirclement of India, the External Affairs Minister said,
"Every country is entitled to prepare its defence preparedness
as per its own threat perception. As I'm entitled to prepare
myself and to ensure that my defence preparedness should be up
to the mark to meet the requirement of my own threat
perception."
He emphasised that the relationship between India and
China is "important for me and we ought to build on this. We
have to advance it. We have to progress further."
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, November 26, 2006, 00:00