What do Chinese Analysts think of India-Taiwan Relations?

Executive Summary

China has repeatedly reiterated that the Taiwan question is a core issue in its external engagements, and it expects its diplomatic partners to respect that there is ‘one China’, with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) being the sole representative of China and Taiwan being a breakaway province. China applies the same principle to India, and is evidently irked about the expanding partnership between India and Taiwan in trade, technology and labour mobility.

China is closely observing the expanding India-Taiwan ties. In the past few years, in addition to governmental actors, academics, analysts and social media commentators have been increasingly discussing the India-Taiwan relationship, drawing out implications for China.

This Issue Brief assesses the views presented by Chinese analysts and commentators on India-Taiwan bilateral relations, and their potential implications on the mainland. The Brief studies the Chinese analysts’ assessments on the theoretical underpinning of the India-Taiwan ties, their economic foundation, and the challenges they face, and pose for the People’s Republic.

The author is grateful to Manoj Kewalramani, Aditya Ramanathan, and Shambhavi Naik for their inputs.

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