<P> From 1998--1999, the United States held series of bilateral talks with India over the issue of India becoming party of the CTBT and NPT . In addition, the United States also made an unsuccessful attempt of holding talks regarding the rollback of India's nuclear program . India took a firm stand against the CTBT and refusing to be signatory party of it despite under pressure by the US President Bill Clinton, and noted the treaty as it was not consistent with India's national security interest . </P> <P> Strong criticism was drawn from Canada on India's actions and its High Commissioner . Sanctions were also imposed by Japan on India and consisted of freezing all new loans and grants except for humanitarian aid to India . </P> <P> Some other nations also imposed sanctions on India, primarily in the form of suspension of foreign aid to India and government - to - government credit lines . However, the United Kingdom, France, and Russia refrained from condemning India . </P> <P> On 12 May the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated: "The Chinese government is seriously concerned about the nuclear tests conducted by India," and that the tests "run counter to the current international trend and are not conducive to peace and stability in South Asia .". The next day the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued the statement clearly stating that "it is shocked and strongly condemned" the Indian nuclear tests and called for the international community to "adopt a unified stand and strongly demand that India immediate stop development of nuclear weapons". China further rejected India's stated rationale of needing nuclear capabilities to counter a Chinese threat as "totally unreasonable". In a meeting with Masayoshi Takemura of Democratic Party of Japan, Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China Qian Qichen was quoted as saying that India's nuclear tests were a "serious matter," particularly because they were conducted in light of the fact that more than 140 countries have signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty . "It is even more unacceptable that India claims to have conducted the tests to counter what it called a "China threat". On 24 November 1998, the Chinese Embassy, New Delhi issued a formal statement: </P>

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