Beijing asks India to stick to One-China policy, warns against following US footsteps

Irked by the visit of the Speaker of the American House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to Taipei, Beijing on Wednesday sent out a not-so-subtle message to India, asking it to stick to its “One-China” policy instead of following the footsteps of the United States and elevating its ties with Taiwan.

The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in New Delhi issued a statement underling that the “One-China” principle was the common consensus of the international community, including India and that it also served as the political foundation for China to develop relations with any other country.

The statement was issued in New Delhi a day after Pelosi defied warnings from China and landed in Taipei for what was the most high-level political visit from the US to Taiwan in 25 years. Beijing called the visit by the American House Speaker as a move by the US to undermine the sovereignty of China and responded by launching military drills around Taiwan.

“India is one of the first countries to recognize that there is only one China. The Chinese side is willing to push forward the development of our relations on the basis of the ‘One-China’ principle,” Wang Xiaojian, the spokesperson of the communist country’s diplomatic mission in New Delhi, said in a statement on Wednesday.

He issued the statement even as a senior leader and parliamentarian of the opposition Congress, Manish Tewari, suggested that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s government in New Delhi should also consider sending a delegation of Parliament of India to Taiwan.

Tewari suggested that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla should lead the parliamentary delegation of India to Taiwan, just like Pelosi had done.

The “One-China” policy recognises only the People's Republic of China, which came into existence in 1949 after the communists defeated the nationalists in the civil war of China. It does not recognise the existence of Taiwan (or the Republic of China), where the nationalists retreated to and based the seat of their government after losing to the communists.

India, like most of the other nations, has been adhering to the ‘One-China’ policy since 1949, recognising only the People's Republic of China. It does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. India-Taipei Association, which is headed by a diplomat, functions as a de facto embassy of India in Taipei. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre (TECC) in New Delhi is the de facto diplomatic and consular mission of Taiwan in India.

China’s April-May 2020 moves to unilaterally change the status quo along its disputed boundary with India in eastern Ladakh and the consequent two-year-long-and-still-unresolved military stand-off between the two sides, however, triggered calls to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in New Delhi to review its policy on Taiwan to send out a message to the communist country.

The government, however, has not yet initiated any such move.

New Delhi had earlier reaffirmed its One-China policy in all its joint statements with Beijing. But it had not done so for eight years since 2010 — in response to the communist country's policy of issuing “stapled visas'' to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir, instead of normal visas pasted on passports issued by the Government of India.

The Modi Government, however, had in July 2018 virtually re-asserted its adherence to “One-China policy” and made Air India to change “Taiwan” with “Chinese Taipei” in the list of destinations on its website.

Taiwan had strongly reacted, stating that the move by Air India could be seen as India “succumbing to the unreasonable and absurd pressure from China”.

India’s trade and economic relations with Taiwan, however, steadily grew over the years. The bilateral trade volume reached $ 7 billion in 2018. The two sides are now exploring the possibility of negotiating a bilateral Free Trade Agreement. The policy of the Government of India on Taiwan is clear and consistent, Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, had informed the Rajya Sabha in response to a question on December 2 last year. “(The) Government facilitates and promotes interactions in areas of trade, investment, tourism, culture, education and other such people-to-people exchanges,” he had added.

The chairman of Taiwan’s multinational electronics contract manufacturer, Foxconn, on June 23 last called on the prime minister in New Delhi. They discussed Foxconn's plan to expand electronic manufacturing capacity in India, including in semiconductors.