KOLKATA: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Sunday skirted a query on China's role during the Nuclear Supplies Group (NSG) meeting in Vienna where the 45-nation organisation agreed by consensus to alter its guidelines for India, ending the country's 34-year-old nuclear isolation.
"I would not like to comment on what role was played by which country. This is their internal matter. Every country has its right to express its own sovereign will," Mukherjee said when asked why China's name did not figure in the list of permanent members of the United Nations Security Council India thanked after the momentous development.
There were reports that China had attempted to block a consensus on the India waiver.
Mukherjee welcomed Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who would be on a three-day visit to India from Sunday evening.
"So far as Yang's visit to India is concerned, he is our distinguished guest. I welcome him. I understand he would be in Kolkata this evening. Tomorrow (Monday) I will have formal discussions with him," he said.
Yang was scheduled to inaugurate China's consulate general building here Sunday evening, after meeting West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
