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The Chinese government on Saturday not only nearly toppled India's Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) bid in Vienna, but went a step further by advocating a similar nuclear deal for Pakistan

China almost spoilt India's party. That will remain the lasting memory of Beijing's strategic miscalculation in opposing India's waiver at the NSG meeting

it was a sign the Chinese whispers in Vienna could have implications for bilateral ties because a government long accused of winking at Beijing's transgressions decided to go public with its disappointment

During the debate at the NSG on Friday, the most crucial day, China raised a number of unspecified 'concerns'.

As one diplomat present at the meeting said, 'none of these were substantive objections and were meant to frustrate US' efforts to secure the waiver. Like everybody, the Chinese also knew that delay was death for this deal

Tigers are going to beneficiary in the fight between Elephant & Dragon over the resources of Sorry lanka including Jaffna

Beijing capitulated only after George Bush called Chinese president Hu Jintao and India put some strongly-worded notes in their mailbox

Coming from a country with the dubious tag of 'chief proliferator', few would have been taken in by the professed concern. In fact, diplomats from various countries in Vienna had few doubts that China did not want the deal to go through since they feared it would bring India closer to the deal. There was complete unanimity that China which promised neutrality since it never expected the deal to go, but was forced to come out in the open because of the momentum generated by the US lobbying. With the NSG finally giving the waiver, China may regret the sabotage. The outcome at Vienna may have enhanced US standing in India. It is sure to set back the normalisation of ties with China by a couple of years by strengthening the suspicions and mistrust.

Chinese began their efforts to block the deal soon after the IAEA safeguards agreement was cleared creating a momentum for India. Diplomats from different countries started to report that Chinese officials would quietly talk to them about 'concerns' and how important it was to listen to the objections, but never really state it on the record. The strategy was clearly to create as many obstacles as to make the deal really difficult.

For the Indian establishment, the Chinese attitude has been a shock. Largely because India believed the Chinese when they indicated support to the deal, even as recently as the G8 summit in Hokkaido. Indian government sources say China has been mobilizing non-proliferation NGOs in the US and Europe against the deal. That created a lot of verbal clutter on the deal, which made the decision an even more of an uphill job.

But when China remained the last man standing against the waiver in Vienna, it stood exposed in its opposition, days after the Chinese foreign ministry said it saw relations with India as 'partners, not rivals' and going to the extent of disowning the anti-deal editorial in Peoples Daily last Monday.

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