China rejects Atal8217;s statement

Asked to comment on India8217;s stand that it will not sign the NPT and the CTBT In its present form, Zhu said, quot;China8217;s position is very clear. India must immediately and unconditionally accede to NPT and CTBT.quot;Vajpayee had made the statement in the context of Chinese President Jiang Zemin8217;s charge that the Indian tests had been targeted8217; at China and Pakistan. Jiang had also alleged that India had created tension in South Asia bycarrying out the tests.

In his first comments on the June 4 meeting of foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council P-5 in Geneva on the situation in South Asia, the foreign ministry spokesman claimed it had quot;achieved the expected resultsquot;.

quot;This meeting demonstrated the common position of the P-5 on major issues, particularly of not recognising India and Pakistan as nuclear weapon states and on restoring peace and stability in South Asia,quot; Zhu said.

The P-5 foreign ministerial meeting has started a process for resolving the tensions in South Asia after the nuclear tests, he said.

quot;The meeting condemned the nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan and expressed deep concern over the danger to regional peace and stability arising from that,quot; Zhu said. He said the meeting also coordinated P-58217;s position on curtailing India and Pakistan8217;s quot;arms racequot;.

China is the rotating coordinator of the P-5.