Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan’s advisor on foreign affairs on Tuesday told the country’s Parliament that they had made “successful efforts against India’s membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group”. According to PTI, Aziz (pictured above) told Pakistan’s lawmakers that the country was making a strong case for its own membership, and that theirs was based purely on merit.
Responding to Opposition parties’ criticism that the government was not maintaining Pakistan’s national security interests, Aziz added that Pakistan’s foreign policy was geared towards not interfering with other nations, and that it’s say was increasing, especially with other Muslim countries.
India and Pakistan have both applied for membership to the NSG, which currently has 48 countries that work together to monitor and control the export of materials or technology that can be used to create nuclear weapons. On June 13, Aziz had claimed that Islamabad’s credentials for membership to the group are stronger than India’s.
On the other hand, China, which had been opposing India’s membership, did a U-turn on Tuesday, saying the “door is open” for discussions on the matter. The spokesperson for the country’s Foreign Ministry Hua Chunying said they had never expressly stated that they were against anyone, but maintained that the rule was that countries who were not signatories to the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty cannot become members of the NSG.
A meeting of the NSG member nations is scheduled in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday.
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