India / Tajinder Bagga puts up 'Happy National Day Taiwan' posters near Chinese embassy

New Delhi: In what can be construed as a signal to China, posters greeting Taiwan on its national day have been put up at a traffic round about close to the Chinese embassy in New Delhi.

The posters have been put up by Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

There was no comment from the Indian foreign ministry or the BJP on the posters that came up overnight Saturday. Taiwan is marking its national day on Saturday.

The putting up of posters comes amid an uneasy calm on the India China border with tens of thousands of troops in close proximity to each other and the ever present danger of a sparking of tensions leading to a conflict. A violent clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers on 15 June led to the deaths of 20 Indian and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers. A number of rounds of talks at the military and diplomatic levels have not yielded any results with Chinese troops not budging from several areas they have intruded into since May. The next round of talks at the level of senior military commanders is to take place on Monday.

Following the clash in June, India had warned China that the tensions along the border and the Chinese actions would have consequences for the bilateral relationship. New Delhi has since then moved to impose an economic cost on China — banning the hugely popular short video sharing app Tiktok and more than 100 such apps.

So far New Delhi has not confirmed any change to its “One China" policy — recognising Taiwan and Tibet as part of China though Indian analysts have suggested a relook against the back drop of tensions.

New Delhi only hosts a trade office of Taiwan. India also has a commercial office in Taipei.

The Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama resides in India with hundreds of thousands of his followers — a constant irritant in India-China ties — though New Delhi has been sensitive to Chinese’s core interests and taken care ensure there are no Tibetan protests during the visit of any Chinese dignitary.

The posters near the Chinese embassy have come up days after the embassy sent an email to some 250 journalists based in the national capital with advice on how to cover Taiwan’s national day. These included a “reminder" that “there is only one China in the world, and the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing the whole of China."

China considers Taiwan a breakaway province. Only about two dozen countries have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

“Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory...All countries that have diplomatic relations with China should firmly honour their commitment to the One-China policy, which is also the long-standing official position of the Indian government," the email said.

“We hope Indian media can stick to Indian government’s position on the Taiwan question and do not violate the One-China principle. In particular, Taiwan shall not be referred to as a ‘country (nation)’ or ‘Republic of China’ or the leader of China’s Taiwan region as ‘President’, so as not to send the wrong signals to the general public," the Chinese email said.

The Indian foreign ministry on Thursday had dismissed the Chinese directives with spokesman Anurag Srivastava stating that India has a “free media" that reports on issues as it sees fit.