China, which has reservations on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, has so far kept mum on the US Senate's passage of the agreement, an issue that is likely to come up for discussion when President Hu Jintao meets with the Indian leadership on November 21.
While the Chinese foreign ministry has not yet commented on the outcome of voting on the deal, the state-run Chinese media, including major websites did not cover the important decision by the US Senate.
The official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called US President George W Bush in connection with the legislation. However, Xinhua did not issue a story on the Senate's overwhelming passage of the US-India Civilian Nuclear Agreement by a solid bipartisan margin of 85 votes to 12.
In contrast, the agency had covered the Senate's rejection of the proposal to grant Permanent Normal Trade Relations to Vietnam.
Ahead of Hu's visit to India, Assistant Chinese Foreign Minister, Cui Tiankai, when asked whether Hu will discuss the Indo-US nuclear deal with Indian leaders, noted that 'many people were concerned about it.'
Cui said that countries can carry out peaceful nuclear energy cooperation but it should be conducive to the maintenance of the non-proliferation regime in the international community.
Responding to repeated questions on the Indo-US nuclear energy deal, Cui said China's stance on nuclear cooperation in the international arena was 'not targeted' at any country.
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