Nuke deal with Pakistan to follow global norms

BEIJING (Online) India Tuesday said China had made it clear that the civil nuclear cooperation with Pakistan would be in accordance with international obligations. New Delhi will wait and see how Beijing presses ahead with its plans to build two nuclear reactors in Pakistans Chashma II plant, visiting National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon told the Indian media as he wrapped up his four-day visit to China. We discussed the issue (of nuclear reactors to Pakistan) with them (Chinese leaders) on two or three occasions. They told us that what they are doing will be in accordance with their international obligations. We will wait and see where this is going, he said after meetings with the Chinese leadership, reported PTI. Asked how international obligations can be enforced, Menon, on the visit as Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs Special Envoy, said, We do not enforce international obligations. We will wait and see how it develops. It is not for us to enforce. The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has its own guidelines. They told us what they are doing. It is still an evolving situation. China formally informed NSG recently about its plans to build the nuclear reactors for Pakistan. Menons remarks coincided with the arrival of President Asif Ali Zardari on a six-day visit with Pakistani diplomats asserting that issues relating to the nuclear power plants were very much on his agenda. Menon, who held talks with Premier Wen Jiabao, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and State Councillor Dai Bingguo, however, refuted the perception that his visit here ahead of Zardaris China tour was aimed at discussing issues relating to the Sino-Pak nuclear deal. We will engage with China. We do not time visits depending on who is coming and going. In todays world every power engages with every one else. This is normal, he said. It (the Sino-Pak nuclear deal) took less than two and a half sentences in the whole visit. This is not the whole point of the visit, even though some stories tried to make it. We have a relationship which is not externally driven, Menon said. According to Menon, India and China are two big neighbours who engage each other, whose ties have regional and global significance and who do lot of business with each other. Asked about the Pakistan factor in India-China relations, he said, I think we are in a situation where different powers deal with each other. We are no longer in a zero-sum situation. Our relationship with China is not dependent on the state of our relationship with Pakistan or vice versa. Judging by what we have seen over last few years, it is also true of China. Nowhere in talks there is any such linkage by them or by us. That is how the mature powers behave. Replying to a question about Chinas support to Indias bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, Menon said the issue figured in the talks and Beijing reiterated its stand that it understood New Delhis aspirations.

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