While the people of India support Taiwan, the pink deep state, always eager to placate the dragon, continues to avoid any change in the pro-China foreign policy. Like most other countries, we also don’t recognize the sovereignty of the island nation, which is a democracy and which wants to participate in the Make in India programme. The reason: China, a ruthless dictatorship, doesn’t want us to do that. Ergo, the pink deep state comprising the ideological descendants of Jawaharlal Nehru entrenched in the system, doesn’t want that. So, we persist with the disastrous One China policy.
When Beijing recently lectured the Indian media to follow suit and not publish advertisements of the Taiwan government, the Ministry of External Affair’s response was an essay in blandness. The official spokesperson said, “<a href="https://indianarrative.com/world/beijing-wants-indian-media-to-toe-its-line-taiwan-tells-china-to-get-lost-16613.html">There is free media in India that reports on issues as it sees fit.</a>”
India has been consistently appeasing China over the issue of Taiwan—indeed over every issue. Two years ago, Air India changed the nomenclature of Taipei; its website offering flights to “Chinese Taipei” instead of Taipei. Interestingly, an <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/05/news/air-india-taiwan-taipei-china/index.html">Air India official told CNNMoney</a> that this was done at the behest of the MEA, but the MEA just evaded the issue. Its spokesman said, “Air India’s decision to rename the destination of Taiwan as Chinese Taipei is entirely consistent with international norms, and our own position on Taiwan since 1949.”
Just like continuous appeasement by the great powers of the day transformed Adolf Hitler’s Germany into a major threat in the 1930s and the cataclysmic Second World War, acquiescence to every whim and fancy of China’s by big nations, including India, has made the dragon a bloodthirsty beast.
The United States played a major role in placating Beijing. Relations between the two nations were normalized. In 1971, the UN shifted diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China, and the former was forced out, practically becoming an international pariah. At present, it is recognized by just 15 small, insignificant nations, the names of which are not familiar to most people.
On other hand, Beijing gained legitimacy and prestige. President Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972 was a big event. Coming after the murderous Cultural Revolution, it was a signal to the Chinese Communist Party that it could continue with its brutal policies, for morality doesn’t matter in international politics.
China got another shot in the arm (at the expense of Taiwan) when in 1979, President Jimmy Carter canceled his country’s diplomatic recognition of Taiwan.
Taiwan, however, has persisted in its pursuit of recognition and legitimacy. The island nation’s foreign office pointed out to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCOM), a European Union-linked climate action body, that it had “incorrectly listed” six Taiwanese cities “as part of China.” It succeeded, as the mayors of the six cities issued an open letter stating they have “never been part of China since they joined the GCOM alliance.”
Reuters reported Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu telling Parliament, “We are very happy that with everyone's hard work the name has reverted.”
Taiwan is striving hard. The US and other nations are also trying to undo the wrongs they had committed against the small democracy. But, unfortunately, India continues to appease China. This must change. The sooner the better..
