The Indian government on Thursday said the country’s bid to be part of the Nuclear Suppliers Group was stalled because of procedural issues and not because of objections from any of the member nations. Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh said India’s application was still under consideration, reported PTI.

“India’s application for the NSG membership enjoys widespread support of the members of the group...While no member of the group has explicitly opposed India’s membership, certain procedural and process-related issues have been raised by a few members,” Singh told the Rajya Sabha. The government’s statement comes only days after China said, “NSG membership shall not be some kind of a farewell gift for countries to give to each other”.

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The statemen was made a day after United States diplomat Nisha Desai Biswal had said that India deserved entry into the NSG, but China was the only “outlier” to it. India had responded by saying that it was not seeking membership to the group as a gift, but on the “basis of our non-proliferation record”.

Singh on Thursday also noted that Delhi’s engagement with Beijing was multi-faceted. He said the two countries have agreed to come up with a new dialogue system to discuss regional and international security, and address issues with consideration to each other’s interests, concerns and aspirations.

China has been against India’s entry to the 48-member international body, which monitors and controls the export of materials or technology that can be used to create nuclear weapons. The Chinese government had said that Beijing had made its position clear on the admission of countries like India and Pakistan, which are not signatories to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to the NSG.

In November 2016, the Chinese government had said that Delhi’s application would be considered only after the NSG finalises rules on granting membership to countries that were not signatories to the NPT.