India hopeful of China's support Sapporo

On a day when the Left parties announced the withdrawal of support to the government over the nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh heard Chinese President Hu Jintao express his country's willingness to cooperate with India in developing civil nuclear energy.

Briefing the Indian media about the bilateral talks here on Tuesday, on the margins of the G8 summit, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon noted that Dr. Singh mentioned the civil nuclear cooperation deal which had been discussed earlier with President Hu Jintao.

Mr. Menon said that as the Prime Minister mentioned on Monday at his news conference en route to Japan: "We do not anticipate there will be any difficulty about it."

China is an important member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group whose approval is needed for India to secure international cooperation for its nuclear electricity programme.

-The Hindu, India