Nearly 22 days after the three former service chiefs of the Indian Army, Air Force and Navy attended a security dialogue in Taiwan, China lodged strong protests and asked to refrain from having any formal military and security cooperation with Taipei. The critical remarks from China came nearly a week before New Delhi is scheduled to organise the G20 Summit.
Notably, General Manoj Naravane, Admiral Karambir Singh and Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria, the retired chiefs of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force, had on August 8 attended the Ketagalan Forum 2023 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue. The event was organised by the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the capital of the country.
Pakistani journalist provoked China on Indian officials visit to Taiwan
The main agenda of the meeting was to enhance “cooperation and dialogue among relevant parties so as to maintain and advance peace, security, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific”.
"China firmly opposes all forms of professional interaction between Taiwan authorities and countries having diplomatic relations with China," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said after a Pakistani journalist asked him about Beijing's response.
It is worth mentioning that like other nations, India too has been adhering One-China policy since 1949. Also, India and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic and consular missions in their respective countries.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory
It is worth mentioning Taiwan split with China in 1949 after a civil war. However, China still calls the island nation its own. Even it provoked Taipei to war following then-US Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the island nation in August last year. In fact, the ruling Communist Party says the island is obliged to rejoin the mainland, by force if necessary.
Recently, a row erupted after the Xi Jinping-led government released a new "standard map" wherein it incorporated claims over the estranged island of Taiwan and the nine-dash line claiming a large part of the South China Sea.
Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jeff Liu said Taiwan was “absolutely not a part of the People’s Republic of China”. "No matter how the Chinese government twists its position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, it cannot change the objective fact of our country’s existence," Liu told a press briefing.
