Politicians and academics in India have expressed support for closer Taiwan-India ties on the social media platform X, after Beijing issued a strongly worded public statement on the servicec against exchanges between President William Lai (賴清德) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Following the Indian prime minister’s re-election for a third term, Lai on Wednesday congratulated Modi.
“My sincere congratulations to Prime Minister @narendramodi on his election victory,” Lai wrote. “We look forward to enhancing the fast-growing Taiwan-India partnership, expanding our collaboration on trade, technology and other sectors to contribute to peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.”
Photo: AFP
In response, Modi on the same day shared a message.
“Thank you @ChingteLai for your warm message. I look forward to closer ties as we work towards mutually beneficial economic and technological partnership,” he wrote.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) at a daily media briefing on Thursday criticized the exchanges between the two leaders.
“India has made a serious political commitment toward the ‘one China Policy.’ [India] is supposed to resist Taiwan’s political ploys. Because of this, China has requested negotiations with India,” Mao said.
While the Indian Ministry of External Affairs has yet to respond to Beijing’s statement, Indian academics and politicians expressed support over Taiwan and India’s relationship on X, while criticizing China.
“Instead of playing territorial chess with sovereign regions, China should focus on respecting international norms. Taiwan has its own identity. It’s time for Beijing to retire its bully tactics and embrace diplomacy over domination,” Indian lawmaker Sujeet Kumar wrote on Saturday.
Kumar thanked Lai for his message to Modi, adding that he completely supports stronger ties between the two “vibrant democracies.”
Brahma Chellaney, an academic from India’s Center for Policy Research, in an X post shared on Thursday said that following China’s quick protest after Lai’s message, India has concerns over Taiwan’s status, adding that “’closer ties’ should extend beyond the economic realm.”
“China does not recognize Kashmir as part of India,” Jawaharlal Nehru University Professor Anand Ranganathan wrote. “China has usurped 38,000 square kilometers of Kashmir. China supports Pakistan on Kashmir. Despite this, India refuses to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. India does not even recognize Taiwan as a country. Time has come to correct this.”
Indian news media such as Press Trust of India, World Is One News, the Hindustan Times and the Indian Express reported on Beijing’s reaction to Lai-Modi interaction on social media.
Meanwhile, India’s Asian News International reported on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ response on X over China’s reaction.
Beijing’s demeanor to a “cordial exchange” between leaders of two democracies was unjustified, it said, adding that threats and intimidation are never ways to fostering friendships.
Taiwan is committed to building partnerships with India “underpinned by mutual benefit and shared values,” it said.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
RSS