New Delhi, June 3: China has responded cautiously to Indian Foreign Minister Kunwar Natwar Singh's proposal that India, Pakistan and China work out a common nuclear doctrine to bring stability in the region , Press Trust of India (PTI) said on Thursday, quoting a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing.

Although PTI said that China was mum on New Delhi's surprise call for a "common" nuclear doctrine, there was little to suggest any disapproval either. Of course the move would imply China's recognition of New Delhi and Islamabad as legal nuclear powers.

"China always stands for complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons," the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement to PTI. The spokesman was asked to comment on Mr Singh's suggestion.

"China is a close neighbour of India and Pakistan. We sincerely hope that peace and stability could be maintained with consistent growth of economy in South Asia," the spokesman said.

The PTI saw the remark as a signal that Beijing does not want to be seen in the company of India and Pakistan, who barged into the nuclear club in 1998. Threat to India's security from China was one of the reasons cited by New Delhi while conducting the May 1998 nuclear tests.

This had resulted in a near-freeze in Sino-India relations. Mr Singh has questioned the wisdom of complaining to the United States about China and Pakistan to justify its nuclear tests.

He thought the more honest way would have been to carry out the tests with the assertion that if five countries could have nuclear weapons, so could India. Mr Natwar Singh said that National Security Adviser J N Dixit would soon meet his Chinese counterpart, Dai Bingguo, in New Delhi. Mr Dixit was foreign secretary when India signed the treaty of peace and tranquillity on the borders in September 1993.