China protests to India over Taiwanese delegation's visit

Beijing: China on Wednesday said it has lodged a diplomatic protest with India for hosting a Taiwanese parliamentary delegation and asked it to deal "prudently" with Taiwan-related issues to maintain sound Sino-India ties.

"China lodged representations with India" over the Taiwan parliamentary delegation's visit to New Delhi, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told the media.

"We hope that India would understand and respect China`s core concerns and stick to the 'One-China' principle and prudently deal with Taiwan-related issues and maintain sound and steady development of India-China relations," Geng said.

China which considers Taiwan as part of its mainland opposes any diplomatic relations as well as political contacts with Taipei by countries which has diplomatic relations with it.

"We are always opposed to any forms of official contacts and exchanges between countries that have diplomatic ties with China and Taiwan (simultaneously) and we are also opposed to the establishment of any official institutions," he said responding to Taiwan's announcement that it plans to upgrade its office in India.

Geng said that "the Indian side has made a commitment on the Taiwan-related issues."

The three-member member Taiwanese delegation visited India from February 12.

Taiwan currently has Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre located in New Delhi. India's office in Taiwan is called India-Taipei Association.

Elaborating further on China`s stand on Taiwanese Parliamentary delegation to India, Geng said "those who are visiting India are so called legislators from Taiwan" and Beijing is opposed to any official contacts between Taiwan and other countries with whom China has diplomatic relations.

"The reason why China lodged the representation is because that we have been requiring countries that have diplomatic relations with China to fulfil their commitment to the 'One China' principle," he said.

"So by making our representation we are urging the Indian side to stick to the 'One China' principle and take concrete actions for steady development of China-India relations," he said.

He also declined to answer a question about when the protest was lodged with India, saying that "not all the information about diplomatic activities are open to the public".

"All I can tell is China has lodged diplomatic representation with India," he said.

Earlier, Chinese media too warned India against playing the Taiwan card.

"By challenging China over the Taiwan question, India is playing with fire," state-run Global Times said in an op-ed article titled 'New Delhi will suffer losses if it plays Taiwan card'.