Relations between China-Taiwan

• IAS NEXT, Lucknow
• 27, Jan 2022

Reference News:-

China recently flew 39 warplanes toward Taiwan in its largest such sortie of the new year, continuing a pattern that the island has answered by scrambling its own jets in response.

Rationale behind such acts:

• China often mounts such missions to express displeasure at something Taiwan has done or at shows of international support for the democratically ruled island, especially by the United States, Taiwan’s main arms provider.
• China has described its activities as necessary to protect the country’s sovereignty and deal with “collusion” between Taipei and Washington.

Chinese pilots have been flying towards Taiwan on a near-daily basis in the past year and a half, since Taiwan’s government started publishing the data regularly. The largest sortie was 56 warplanes on a single day last October.

What’s the issue?

China has ramped up military pressure, including repeated missions by Chinese warplanes near democratic Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own and has not ruled out taking by force.

Latest developments:

The European Parliament’s first official delegation to Taiwan recently come in support of Taiwan and said that the diplomatically isolated island is not alone. It called for bolder actions to strengthen EU-Taiwan ties as Taipei faces rising pressure from Beijing.

• Taiwan, which does not have formal diplomatic ties with any European nations except tiny Vatican City, is keen to deepen relations with members of the European Union.

China- Taiwan relations- Background:

China has claimed Taiwan through its “one China” policy since the Chinese civil war forced the defeated Kuomintang, or Nationalist, to flee to the island in 1949 and has vowed to bring it under Beijing’s rule, by force if necessary.

• While Taiwan is self-governed and de facto independent, it has never formally declared independence from the mainland.
• Under the “one country, two systems” formula, Taiwan would have the right to run its own affairs; a similar arrangement is used in Hong Kong.

Presently, Taiwan is claimed by China, which refuses diplomatic relations with countries that recognise the region.

Indo- Taiwan relations:

• Although they do not have formal diplomatic ties, Taiwan and India have been cooperating in various fields.
• India has refused to endorse the “one-China” policy since 2010.