Beijing says why the hurry as Vienna moves closer to a deal

The opposition was down to six countries, Ireland, Austria, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway and Netherlands. But by late tonight, sources said, Netherlands and Norway had begun to show more “flexibility” after the US explained that India had made it clear it could not accept any more amendments. The option left was to either go ahead with the exemption or let India “walk away” after coming this far.

However, China seemed to play the spoiler arguing that there was no compulsion to push for a decision at this meeting and if there were still reservations, more time should be given to address concerns related to the “global non-proliferation architecture.” Clearly, this was not acceptable to the US because it would jeopardize the entire nuclear deal going by the tough timeline that lies ahead on Capitol Hill.

While there are no significant changes in the new draft before the NSG, sources said, the upfront reference to Paragraph 16 of the NSG guidelines in the exemption note is being used to good effect by US diplomats to win over the sceptics. The revised draft states that if one or more member states consider that “circumstances have arisen” for consultations, then the NSG will go according to procedures in Paragraph 16 of its guidelines.

This says that once consultations are on, supplier countries will not do anything to “prejudice” the process. In other words, they may take appropriate action which could even include suspending the transfer of Trigger List items — sensitive technology that could be used in the weapons programme — during this period. And if a violation is confirmed upon consultation, Paragraph 16 is clear that countries will terminate supplies.

Sources said this provision is similar to what is agreed in the 123 agreement, where consultations take place before termination. US diplomats have argued in the NSG that this provision is an effective response built into the exemption in case India were to detonate a device.

... contd.