N-deal: PM writes separate letters to Chinese Prez, Premier
Ahead of the crucial IAEA meet this week to discuss an India-specific safeguards agreement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written separate letters to Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao apparently seeking their support for the I...
By PTI |
BEIJING: Ahead of the crucial IAEA meet this week to discuss an India-specific safeguards agreement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written separate letters to Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao apparently seeking their support for the Indo-US nuclear deal at the UN atomic watchdog and the NSG.
Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan, who is here to seek a non-committal Beijing's backing for the deal, today handed over Singh's letters addressed to Hu and Wen to Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo during an hour-long meeting with him.
"The Prime Minister has sent his envoys to all the 45 countries of the NSG. In this particular case, the PM addressed letters to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao," Chavan told reporters here after holding talks with senior Chinese leaders.
He said his "main meeting" was with Dai where "I handed over letters from the Prime Minister."
During his meetings here which came ahead of the August 1 IAEA session to discuss India's case and the subsequent NSG meet, Chavan said "we emphasised that it was an international nuclear deal to end India's nuclear isolation and not about India-US deal."
Describing his meeting with Dai as "good", he said the Chinese side maintained that they had no objections to any country going for peaceful nuclear development as long as non-proliferation concerns were addressed.
Beijing recently said it was studying the India-specific IAEA safeguards agreement. "...China is studying the draft safeguards agreement between India and IAEA. The relevant study work is still going on," was all the Foreign Ministry was willing to say last week to a pointed query on whether it would or would not support the deal.
Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan, who is here to seek a non-committal Beijing's backing for the deal, today handed over Singh's letters addressed to Hu and Wen to Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo during an hour-long meeting with him.
"The Prime Minister has sent his envoys to all the 45 countries of the NSG. In this particular case, the PM addressed letters to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao," Chavan told reporters here after holding talks with senior Chinese leaders.
He said his "main meeting" was with Dai where "I handed over letters from the Prime Minister."
During his meetings here which came ahead of the August 1 IAEA session to discuss India's case and the subsequent NSG meet, Chavan said "we emphasised that it was an international nuclear deal to end India's nuclear isolation and not about India-US deal."
Describing his meeting with Dai as "good", he said the Chinese side maintained that they had no objections to any country going for peaceful nuclear development as long as non-proliferation concerns were addressed.
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Beijing recently said it was studying the India-specific IAEA safeguards agreement. "...China is studying the draft safeguards agreement between India and IAEA. The relevant study work is still going on," was all the Foreign Ministry was willing to say last week to a pointed query on whether it would or would not support the deal.
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