Explained: The ‘One China’ policy on Taiwan and India’s stance on it

United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi flew out of Taiwan on Wednesday after attracting much ire from China.

Beijing, who saw red over the visit, has already begun the largest-ever military exercise encircling Taiwan in retaliation to Pelosi’s visit. The Asian giant has also imposed a slew of economic curbs as a punishment to the island nation for hosting the American.

During the US House speaker’s visit to the self-ruled island nation she pledged “ironclad support for Taiwan’s democracy, including on matters of security and stability”, casting a shadow on the ‘One China’ policy that America follows when it comes to Taiwan.

Her visit has also attracted many reactions, including one from Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who said that India could learn from this experience and use the ‘Taiwan card’ in the future to keep China in line.

The Congress MP was quoted by India Today as saying, “If at all China misbehaves with us, this is one of the cards we can also play to show that we are ready to upgrade our level of contact with Taiwan. The (external affairs) ministry should choose an appropriate time to play that card. Once you play the card, you can’t play it anymore,” adding that sending a high-level official is an option that India should never rule out.

Congress’ Manish Tewari too suggested that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) 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.

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In light of these events, we take a closer look at the One China policy and where India stands on the matter.

What is the ‘One China’ policy

A bedrock of US-Sino relations, it is a diplomatic acknowledgement of China’s position that there is only one Chinese government. Under the policy, the US recognises and has formal ties with China rather than the island of Taiwan.

The policy, signed during President Jimmy Carter’s regime in 1979, primarily states: “The People’s Republic of China and the United States of America have agreed to recognise each other and to establish diplomatic relations as of 1 January 1979. The United States of America recognises the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China. Within this context, the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan.”

Through the years since, US has followed this policy and has maintained formal diplomatic ties with Beijing and has unofficial ties with Taiwan.

India’s stance on ‘One China’ policy

India has also stuck by the ‘One China’ policy. However, for India the ‘One China’ Policy doesn’t just govern Taiwan but also Tibet; India doesn’t recognise Taiwan or any Tibetan authority as independent of China.

The meetings between leaders of India and China routinely reaffirmed the ‘One China’ policy. However, India stopped doing so in 2010 after then Chinese premier Wen Jiabao’s visit. India was miffed after China issued ‘stapled visas’ instead of normal visas for residents of Jammu and Kashmir travelling to China.

Though India doesn’t have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, New Delhi has an office in Taipei for diplomatic functions called the India Taipei Association (ITA) headed by a senior diplomat and Taiwan has the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre (TECC) in New Delhi. Both were established in 1995.

One has seen slight changes to India’s position on the policy since Narendra Modi’s ascent to power.

In 2014, when he was sworn in as prime minister, he had invited Taiwan’s Ambassador Chung-Kwang Tien for the ceremony.

After the Galwan clashes of 2020, India has been taking a tougher stance against China vis-à-vis Taiwan.

In May 2020, BJP’s two MPs, Meenakshi Lekhi and Rahul Kaswan, attended the swearing-in ceremony of Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen virtually.

A second sign to Beijing was when Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoling the death of former Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui in August 2020, called him ‘Mr Democracy’.

Incidentally, President, Tsai Ing-wen, is considered his protégé.

Over the years, India’s trade relations with Taiwan have grown steadily. In 2018, trade levels reached $7 billion. The two sides are also exploring the possibility of negotiating a bilateral Free Trade Agreement.

Many geopolitical experts have said that as India continues to face a problematic and aggressive Beijing, it’s time to rethink the ‘One China’ policy.

With inputs from agencies

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