New Delhi: India on Friday said it opposed any unilateral change to the status quo over Taiwan and did not explicitly refer to the One China Policy, unlike most countries including G7 nations.
“We urge the exercise of restraint, avoidance of unilateral action to change the status quo, de-escalation of tensions, and efforts to maintain peace and stability in the region,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in carefully worded comments in what was India’s first reaction.
Bagchi added, “Like many other countries, India too is concerned over the recent developments”.
Addressing a weekly media briefing, the MEA spokesperson said, “India’s relevant policies are well known and consistent and they do not require reiteration.” After US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid a visit to Taiwan against China’s wishes, Beijing started holding large-scale military exercises while threatening to take over the self-ruled island. After more than a week-long training near Taiwan, China on Wednesday announced that it has concluded its military drills, simulating an attack on the self-ruled island.
The PLA Eastern Theater Command said it had successfully completed various missions during recent drills around Taiwan and effectively tested the troops’ joint operation combat capacity, state media outlet Global Times reported.
On Tuesday, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said China used the military drills to influence the international community’s freedom of navigation in the waters and airspace of the Taiwan Strait and to prepare for an invasion.
Chinese Foreign Affairs ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that Pelosi’s Taiwan visit is a major provocation that upgraded US-Taiwan relations and a real threat to China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity adding that China has to prepare itself for every possible scenario.