India says holds "substantive" nuclear talks with China
NEW DELHI - India on Tuesday said it had held "substantive" talks with China on its bid to become a fully fledged member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a club of nations that trades in civil nuclear technology.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is campaigning to join the NSG to back a multi-billion-dollar drive to build nuclear power plants in partnership with Russia, the United States and France, and reduce India's reliance on polluting fossil fuels.
Yet his bid to win accession to the 48-member group, founded in response to India's first atomic weapons test in 1974, has so far failed to win over strategic rival Beijing, which enjoys a de facto veto because the group operates by consensus.
