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       I have blogged before about the fight going on over India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. The U.S. wants India in the NSG to make it easier to do nuclear related business. China, a long time rival and sometimes enemy of India, is working to keep India out of the NSG. One of the ploys that China is using is to insist that Pakistan be admitted to the NSG if India is. There are long standing concerns about Pakistan selling nuclear weapons technology to non-nuclear nations such as Iran and North Korea that make Pakistani admission to the NSG very unlikely. China is pretending that it is neutral and thinks that the fair thing to do is to admit both or neither Pakistan and/or India to the NSG.

       The U.N. Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was opened for signatures in 1968. To date, one hundred and ninety on countries have signed the treaty. Only four member nations of the U.N. are not currently signatories. India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. “The NPT non-nuclear-weapon states agree never to acquire nuclear weapons and the NPT nuclear-weapon states in exchange agree to share the benefits of peaceful nuclear technology and to pursue nuclear disarmament aimed at the ultimate elimination of their nuclear arsenals”.^[3]

        The 2010 Review Conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons clarified, modified and expanded provisions of the original treaty. The Conference "reaffirmed that new supply arrangements" for the transfer of nuclear materials and technology should require that the recipient accept "IAEA full-scope safeguards and international legally-binding commitments not to acquire nuclear weapons".

      The NSG requires that members abide by the provisions of the NPT and the 2010 Review Conference with respect international trade in nuclear technology. The U.S. really wants to sell nuclear technology to India. If they cannot get an Indian membership in the NSG, then they want a waiver that would authorize the U.S. to sell the technology to India in spite of the fact that India is not a member of the NSG.

      China has economic, political and military reasons for wanting to deny nuclear technology to India while at the same time supplying nuclear technology to Pakistan. As a signatory of the NPT and a member of the NSG, China is prohibited from selling nuclear technology to Pakistan. However China signed a deal in 2013 to build the Chasma-3 nuclear power reactor in Pakistan. This is a clear violation of the NPT since Pakistan has not been granted an exemption under the NSG and Pakistan does not adhere to the standards of the IAEA.

      In addition to breaking the rules of the NSG for the sale of peaceful nuclear technology, China has also been accused of breaking the Missile Technology Control Regime which prohibits the transfer of ballistic missile technology to "problematic" nations such as Pakistan because it has been transferring missile technology to Pakistan.

        China benefits from belonging to international groups dedicated to the elimination of nuclear weapons but seems to view the obligations that are part of such memberships as optional requirements that can be ignored when other priorities dictate.

2010 Review Conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons .jpg