Japan backs India's bid to join Nuclear Suppliers Group

Japan on Monday backed India's membership bid to join the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which is opposed by China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe during their summit talks also sought "expeditious and meaningful" reforms of the United Nations.

"After India's full accession to three international export control regimes, the two leaders pledged to continue working together for India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, with the aim of strengthening the global non-proliferation efforts," according to the India-Japan Vision Statement issued after the talks.

India is already a member of the Australia Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).

"India and Japan seek expeditious and meaningful reforms of the United Nations, in particular the comprehensive reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), to make it more legitimate, effective and representative, taking into account the contemporary realities of the 21st century," it said.

India, Japan, Brazil and Germany have formed the G4 grouping to support each other's bids for permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council.

The two leaders also expressed their determination to accelerate the process of UN reforms, including the launch of text-based negotiations in the intergovernmental negotiations in the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, it added.

Modi and Abe welcomed recent developments in the Korean Peninsula, including the US-North Korea Summit at Singapore in June and three inter-Korean Summits this year as a step towards the comprehensive resolution of the outstanding issues regarding North Korea.

"They underscored the importance of realising North Korea's complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles of all ranges in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs)," the statement said.

The two leaders underscored the importance of addressing concerns related to North Korea's proliferation linkages.

"They reaffirmed their commitment to the full implementation of the relevant UNSCRs. They also urged North Korea to address the earliest resolution of the abductions issue," the statement said.

Prime Minister Abe stressed the importance of early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

China has been stridently opposing India's NSG bid primarily on the grounds that New Delhi is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Its opposition has made India's entry into the group difficult as the NSG works on the principle of consensus.

China's repeated stonewalling on India's membership bid in the NSG has become a major stumbling block in bilateral relations.

After India's application for entry into the elite group which controls nuclear trade, Pakistan, China's all-weather ally, too had applied with the tacit backing of Beijing, which is a key member of the NSG.

The 48-member grouping seeks to limit the export of nuclear equipment, materials or technology.