Countries like New Zealand, Ireland, Norway, Austria and Switzerland have serious non-proliferation concerns. The issue is internally very sensitive in these countries. It may be recalled that Austria had made a strong statement in the IAEA board on August 1 while Ireland had gone to the extent of saying that it would have abstained had there been a vote on the India-specific safeguards agreement.

India went on a diplomatic overdrive since the UPA Government won the vote of confidence on July 22 with 10 envoys travelling all NSG countries to lobby for their support. Moreover, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s visit to China to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games is also an overture to Beijing which has still not opened its cards on the stand it would take in the NSG.

Given that China was pressing very hard on India to get Sonia Gandhi and her family to visit Beijing, sources said, New Delhi hopes that the trip may help create a favourable atmosphere in China before the NSG meet. While Beijing was never expected to stand in the way of a consensus, an outright support from the Chinese political leadership will “undercut” any possible plan to scuttle Indian and US efforts.