Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) India Tuesday said it was closely examining reports of China selling two nuclear reactors to Pakistan to see if the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) guidelines had been applied to the deal.
“We are alert to these reports. We are fully aware of what has been announced. These reports say that cooperation is ostensibly for peaceful purposes and one within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards,” Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters here.

She was responding to a question on India’s response to the nuclear deal between China and Pakistan.

“We have to see what is the outcome. This matter has to be discussed by the NSG. This matter is under examination.

“The result of this examination will reveal whether the NSG guidelines have been applied in this case,” she said.

Rao, however, evaded a question on the US silence over the deal that is expected to impinge on the stability of the global non-proliferation regime.

China has said it would set up two reactors in Pakistan, in addition to two earlier power reactors Beijing has set up.

China, a member of the NSG since 2004, is required to seek an exemption from the 45-nation nuclear cartel that controls the global flow of nuclear technology and material before supplying reactors to Pakistan. Pakistan has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

India is not convinced about the Chinese argument that two reactors were “grandfathered” under an earlier agreement and hence did not need an exemption, informed sources said.

India also hopes that the NSG will weigh in Pakistan’s proliferation record and concerns about nuclear technology falling into the hands of terrorists before deciding on the issue, the sources said.

The NSG had made one-time exception for the India-US civil nuclear deal in September 2008, ending a 34-year-embargo on atomic trade with New Delhi, in view of its excellent non-proliferation record.