India has expressed its concern over the development in the Taiwan Strait

Speaking for the first time on the ongoing tension between China and Taiwan, India on Friday expressed its concern over the development around the Taiwan Strait.

“Like many other countries, India too is concerned at the recent developments. We urge exercise of restraint, avoidance of unilateral actions to change the status quo, de-escalation of tensions and efforts to maintain peace and stability in the region,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said during a weekly press briefing.

He was responding to media queries over tension between Beijing and Taipei with the PLA launching extensive military drills around the Taiwan Strait following US House of Representative Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-governing island last week.

Ignoring China’s threat, the US House of Representative Speaker landed in Taiwan on August 2. Beijing considers Taiwan a part of China and has not ruled out taking the island by military force at any time.

“The tension in the Taiwan Strait is fundamentally caused by the US connivance at the third highest-ranking official of the US government to take a military aircraft to visit China’s Taiwan region in disregard of China’s strong opposition and serious representations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said during a regular press briefing on August 4, 2022.

Since Nancy Pelosi’s visit, China has pulled out of climate talks and extended military drills around Taiwan, disrupting shipping and air traffic, and raising concerns about the possible conflict in the Taiwan Strait which is a key route for global trade

On August 10, China unveiled its first White Paper on Taiwan since Xi Jinping came to power. It calls for force in its bid for unification of Taiwan with mainland China.

The White Paper maintains that China will prefer for “peaceful reunification.” However, as per the long-standing CCP policy, the Paper says China “will not renounce the use of force” in pursuing the goal of unification.