Click to play videoNew Delhi: Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State for External Affairs, has a clear brief for during his trip to Beijing: find out what the Chinese intend to do at the meeting of IAEA’s Board of Governors and at the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Chavan has been authorised to offer a carrot in the form of lucrative contracts for Chinese companies if Beijing doesn't block the nuclear deal. Indian diplomats and nuclear experts admit they are less worried about the IAEA. They say even if it comes to a vote on the draft safeguards text—demanded by Pakistan—there are sufficient votes to see it through.
They are not so confident about the Nuclear Suppliers Group. China could help build a lobby of countries with strong non-proliferation concerns. They range from Ireland and Sweden to New Zealand and Switzerland. They could insist on caveats unacceptable to India.
“They (the countries) don’t like India’s status as a nuclear weapons state. Secondly, for them it is difficult to accept that India wants to conduct nuclear tests and wants to get away with it. They want to ensure that India is not too clever by half,” says nuclear expert Dr G Balachandran.
So India is dangling more carrots. “When the CTBT comes into force we might say we have no objection to signing it. We are ready to sign the FMCT but those treaties are being negotiated,” says Balachandran.
Indian diplomats hinted that the NSG deliberations could produce a formula that gives India the waiver while allowing space for the concerns of other countries.
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