NEW DELHI: India and China began high-level talks yesterday amid a new strain in bilateral relations over Beijing’s perceived negative role that threatened Indian efforts for civilian nuclear trade with the world.

Indian officials criticized China for objecting to a trade waiver for India at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) on the weekend. Irrespective of the attempts that may have been made last week in Vienna by China to prevent a waiver to India, with NSG having finally given its nod, neither Beijing nor Delhi wants that to play as an irritant in development of their bilateral ties.

Just ahead of Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi’s arrival in the capital city for top-level talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee, Chinese Embassy issued a statement clarifying Beijing’s stand on the NSG waiver for lifting of nuclear trade embargo on India.

The statement included remarks made by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu in Beijing on the NSG waiver for India.

“China has all along advocated that all nations are entitled to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy,” Jiang said. “At the same time, the relevant cooperation should help maintain the integrity and validity of the international nuclear non-proliferation system,” she said. China had expressed concerns on NSG waiver for India, as it is not a signatory to nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Yang arrived in New Delhi eralier in the day for talks with Singh at his residence. Yang’s visit follows public remarks by India’s National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan that the government will convey “some kind of disappointment” over Beijing’s position at the NSG.

“We (India) will convey some kind of disappointment to him (Yang) because we expected something more from them (China),” Narayanan told the NDTV network.

“We were a little surprised about China,” he said, adding that President Hu Jintao had assured Singh that China would play a “constructive role” at the NSG.

But India would seek good relations with China in spite of the lack of support at the nuclear forum, Narayanan added. “We cannot choose our neighbors. We have China and Pakistan as neighbors and with both of them we desire to have the best of relations,” he told another news channel.

— With input from agencies