- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
With the heat over the visit of Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, refusing to die down, Indian parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor said New Delhi also has the option to play the ‘Taiwan card’ and upgrade its level of contact with the island that Beijing claims as its own if it misbehaved with its southern neighbour.
The reaction of Tharoor, a former junior foreign minister and a UN diplomat, came as Pelosi concluded her high-profile visit to Taiwan that enraged the Chinese side which even warned Washington that it would have to pay a price for the move. China even conducted military exercises near the Taiwan border and also banned imports of fruits and fishes from Taiwan.
With her visit, Pelosi became the first high-ranking elected official from the US to set foot on Taiwan in 25 years.
“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,” Tharoor told India Today, adding that sending a high-level official to Taiwan is an option that India should never rule out.
Listen to what Congress leader @ShashiTharoor has to say about US House Speaker #NancyPelosi's #Taiwan visit, China's reaction and if India should send a delegation led by Speaker Om Birla to Taiwan. #ReporterDiary #Congress #China #Taiwan | (@Supriya23bh) pic.twitter.com/NV4aWNbjAi
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) August 3, 2022
“Most of the world recognises the one China policy but at the same time maintain distinct economic relations with Taiwan. We have a delegation [in Taiwan] but we call it an economic delegation and not an embassy,” the 66-year-old politician said.
The veteran Indian national Congress leader added that even though China is not happy about Pelosi’s visit, it would not provoke a war as Washington’s long-standing policy on Taiwan would not change after the Democratic leader’s visit.
“As far as China is concerned, it [Taiwan] is a matter of prestige. It is not in anyone’s interest to provoke an international war or any such incident. But my feeling is, it will pass,” Tharoor said.
The opposition leader also said that it was increasingly becoming difficult for New Delhi to stay out of conflicts such as the one in Ukraine and now in Taiwan.
“During the cold war, when the US and Russia were somewhat distant from us, we could play a non-alignment role. In the present situation, we are not really neutral when it comes to our national interests. I don’t think we can be neutral in relation to China’s ambitions in the region because their ambitions unfortunately include us,” he said.
