Bharat recognized Taiwan as a country for the first time after the Cultural Ministry’s official Amrit Mahotsav handle’s mentioned the same in a quiz on Wednesday.
In a question posed on its handle, ‘To which country did Bharat recently deliver the initial batch of Brahmis cruise missiles ?’ one of the options read Taiwan.
This move comes in the middle of China renaming many areas in Arunachal Pradesh. Bharat’s defence minister Rajnath Singh said, ‘I want to ask China if we change the names of many states of the neighbouring country, will those be parts of our territory ? Because of such activities, the relationship between Bharat and China will deteriorate’.
Currently, Bharat doesn’t share any formal diplomatic relationship with the country due to its One-China policy. Even though Bharat follows the One-China policy, both countries set up an office for diplomatic functions back in 1995. While Bharat has the India-Taipei Association (ITA), the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) was established in New Delhi.
Bharat has moved towards closer ties with Taiwan, especially after the NDA came to power in 2014. On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, Taiwan’s Ambassador Chung-Kwang Tien was invited.
Soon after Bharat-China relationship hit a rock bottom after the 2020 Doklam incident, two BJP MPs, Meenakshi Lekhi and Rahul Kaswan, were asked to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen virtually.
In a veiled message aimed at China, Bharat called the death of former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui as Mr Democracy.
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