China cautious on Julia Gillard's proposal to sell uranium to India

BEIJING: China today gave a cautious response to moves by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to lift the long-standing ban on uranium sales to India, as it expressed reservations over New Delhi becoming a member of the powerful NSG, saying some countries have "concerns" over it.

"About whether Australia will export uranium to India, China believes that all countries have right to make peaceful use of nuclear energy and conduct relevant cooperation, but at the same time one should always abide by international obligations and nuclear non-proliferation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said today.

He was responding to a questions at a media briefing over Gillard's call to her ruling Labour Party to change its stand of not to sell uranium to India.

The Labour party was opposed to uranium sales to India on the ground that India has declined to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Gillard's move was also backed by US President Barack Obama who said it was compatible with international law and the NPT.

Significantly, Liu also spoke about differences within the 46-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) over moves to admit India as a member.

Liu said "different" members have "concerns" in this regard and a final decision should be made through consultations with all member states.

"As for the Indian accession to NSG, different parties have their own concerns. We are still under discussion in this regard and we hope relevant parties will continue with the discussions," he said.

"China believes that expansion of NSG should be able to maintain authority and effectiveness of the group and take into full consideration the actual condition of candidate countries and final decision should be made through consultation of all states," he said.