Outraged China asks India to refrain from supporting Taiwan

On Wednesday, in an unprecedented move, two parliamentarians of the BJP, Meenakshi Lekhi and Rahul Kaswan, 'virtually attended' the swearing-in ceremony of Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen and sent her congratulations. Tsai was sworn in for her second term.

As most of the international travel remains suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic which originated in Wuhan city of Hubei province in China, Lekhi and Kaswan were among the 92 dignitaries, including US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, representing 41 countries, who virtually participated in the ceremony.

Though the Indian government did not officially participate in the event, the presence of two well-known BJP MPs miffed China so much that its Foreign Ministry without naming anyone on the same day objected and hoped everyone would "support the just cause of Chinese people to oppose the secessionist activities for 'Taiwan independence' and realise national reunification."

Now a counsellor (parliament) of the embassy of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in New Delhi, Liu Bing has registered CCP's protest against India's participation in the ceremony by writing to both Lekhi and Kaswan. Liu Bing shared a copy of the letter with the IANS.

In his complaint, Liu called Lekhi and Kaswan's congratulatory message to President Tsai "utterly wrong" which needs to be "corrected".

"The one-China principle, enshrined by the UN Charter and its relevant resolutions, is a generally recognized norm in international relations and a general consensus of the international community," he claimed.

Liu Bing reminded the parliamentarians that "the Indian governments have pledged to adhere to one-China principle since the bilateral ties were established seventy years ago."

"Any wrong signals" including the message of congratulation to President Tsai, Liu warned, "will encourage those separatists to go even farther on the wrong and dangerous track, which would ultimately undermine the peace and prosperity of the region."

He strongly urged the BJP parliamentarians to "refrain from such acts and instead do good to support China's great cause of unification."

Describing President Tsai as "the locally elected leader in China's Taiwan Province", Liu said that "unfortunately, the authority led by her in Taiwan province has refused to accept the '1992 consensus' that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one China and will work together towards national unification."

"On the contrary, Madam Tsai has never renounced to seek 'Taiwan Independence' and kept engaged in separatist activities in one way or the other," he wrote in the letter.

Since the Communist Party of China gained control of the mainland China in 1949, pushing out the Republic of China (ROC) government to the island state of Taiwan, the political status of Taiwan has remained uncertain. The ROC was replaced by the PRC's membership at the UN in 1971. The PRC refuses diplomatic ties with countries that recognize Taiwan as an independent state.