Washington simultaneously stepped up gears and US President George W. Bush contacted his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao asking him not to block the waiver. Sources said “everyone in the US government below the President” leaned on someone in the Chinese government in a closely coordinated effort. In short, the US “pulled out all stops,” including reminding the Chinese of the evidence Washington had of its past proliferation activities, particularly in Pakistan.

Bush, along with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, incrementally leaned on their counterparts in the club of six holdout countries — Austria, Netherlands, Norway, Ireland, New Zealand and Switzerland — to accept the waiver on the basis of the statement on disarmament made by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee yesterday.

As a result of these efforts, it was decided to change the draft and include a reference to Mukherjee’s statement in the final decision which was taken today. While there were dogged efforts to include a provision that would cease cooperation with India in case it detonates a nuclear device, New Delhi stood firm and Washington did not press further. Both India and the US maintained that Paragraph 16 of the NSG guidelines that provide for NSG consultation in such circumstances — where NSG could by consensus suspend further trade — was sufficient. This rule, incidentally, also applies to all countries of the NSG.

On this note, the meeting ended last night at 1 am with countries taking back the new draft for internal discussions. In the end, it was a political call taken by the sceptic countries not to continue with their opposition, particularly after the diplomatic offensive mounted by the US at the highest levels in coordination with India. While the final decision is still to be released, sources confirmed to The Sunday Express that there is no mention of the “testing” word in the draft.

... contd.