Menon to hold bilateral talks with Chinese leaders

The Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon is in China, to prepare the ground for the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, scheduled to take place later this year.

Beijing, Sept 18 : The Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon is in China, to prepare the ground for the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, scheduled to take place later this year.

Menon's visit to Beijing is primarily aimed at seeking China's support ahead of New Delhi's plans to approach the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for getting necessary approvals for the July 18, 2005 US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement.

Menon will hold discussions on regional and international issues of mutual interest with the Chinese authorities.

Menon, who arrived here on Monday, will call on State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan Tang, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Assistant Foreign Minister, He Yafei, during his visit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Jiang Yu, said.

Recently, China has expressed its willingness to discuss the Indo-US civil nuclear deal when it comes up at the NSG.

Beijing has expressed readiness to cooperate with other nations on the peaceful use of civilian nuclear energy.

In Vienna, Chinese top planning body's senior official said that Beijing is ready to strengthen cooperation on global nuclear energy with other nations with an open and constructive attitude as long as nuclear security and non-proliferation are assured.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi had hinted last month that Beijing was prepared to explore possibilities of cooperation with India on peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Earlier reports suggested that China is opposed to any changes in the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) guidelines to accommodate India in the field of dual-use technology. Significantly, the deal has received support from Russia, France, Australia, Britain, Canada and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

China has till now argued that "the U.S.-India nuclear deal would destroy non-proliferation efforts, and therefore, wants India to dismantle its nuclear weapons and sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a non-nuclear weapon state. It says that U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation must conform to the rules of the global non-proliferation regime.

India has already rebutted suggestions that India's attempt at improving relations with the United States was aimed at containing China.

Interacting with a distinguished audience at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul, Mukherjee said: "There is no question of cooperation between India and US to act as a containment to any other countries, including China. Our relations are independent of each other relations. The relation with China is independent of the relationship between India and the USA."

Meanwhile, IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei told a press conference after opening of the UN nuclear watchdog's 51st General Conference here on Monday that the agency is waiting for New Delhi to come forward to discuss the bilateral Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation deal with it.

Terming the deal as a "good" one and a step in the "right direction," ElBaradei said that it would provide clean energy to millions of people in India.

The next round of talks on boundary between National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and Chinese Vice-Minister Dai Bingguo are likely to be held later this month.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi is also expected to visit China next month.

ANI