Barely a month after China blocked India's entry into the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG), China's state-run media Xinhua news agency said on Friday that the door to India's admission into the elite nuclear club is not "tightly closed," Times of India reported.

The uncharacteristically soft remark on India's NSG bid from Chinese state media was accompanied with China's usual concern that only signatories of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty should be allowed into the group.

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"So far, there is no precedent for a non-Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory to become an NSG member. Many inside the body that monitors the global flow of nuclear materials insist prudence in handing a membership card to any non-treaty party," Xinhua said as it reiterated China's demand that signing the NPT is a prerequisite to NSG membership.  

Xinhua called on India to understand China's concerns on the South China Sea following a verdict issued by an international tribunal court in June, which dismissed China's expansive claim in the maritime territory.    

Xinhua referred to a joint statement issued at the end of a trilateral summit between Russia, China and India in Moscow, which said that New Delhi agrees to find a solution to the South China Sea through negotiations with all the concerned parties.

Chinese state media's remark on the NSG impasse and the South China Sea dispute came just ahead of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to India. Wang is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday.

It is not clear whether Wang will try to assuage New Delhi's disappointment over the NSG blocked. However, sources claim that Wang will try to seek India's commitment on the South China Sea dispute. Sources say that China wants assurance from New Delhi that it would not help the US-led bloc to raise the South China dispute at the upcoming G20 Summit in China this September.

TagsIndia, china, India NSG membership, India and China, Wang Yi