On Taiwan National Day, celebratory posters crop up outside Chinese Embassy in New Delhi

After China on Wednesday issued a series of guidelines for the Indian media for coverage of the National Day of Taiwan, observed on October 10, large posters wishing Taiwan on its ‘National Day’ have come up outside the Chinese Embassy complex in New Delhi. 

'Issued by Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga'

The posters have been put up by Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga and he posted visuals of the posters on his Twitter account on Saturday early morning with the hashtag '#TaiwanNationalDay'. The BJP leader, who contested from the Hari Nagar seat in the Delhi Assembly elections,  earlier his year, has been very outspoken on the issue of China and Taiwan.

This is seen as a major embarrassment for Beijing as it comes days after Chinese Embassy in India on Thursday, instructed Indian media persons to 'stick to Indian government's stance on Taiwan' while reporting on the upcoming 'National Day of Taiwan'. 

The letter asked Indian media to not violate 'One China policy', shockingly ordering India to not refer to Taiwan as a 'country or nation' or Taiwan's 'leader' as 'President'. The Taiwanese embassy has replied to this saying 'Get lost'. “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory...All countries that have diplomatic relations with China should firmly honour their commitment to the One-China policy, which is also the long-standing official position of the Indian government,” the letter said.

The Chinese embassy said it “appreciates the good faith and efforts by friends from the media”, and was “willing to maintain communication with media friends on China-related reports”.

Ahead of the National Day, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, taking to Twitter said, "The whole world can see that Taiwan finds strength in unity" Taiwan's Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu thanked Indians for their support in celebrating Taiwan National Day. 

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'GET LOST!'

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs blasted China’s indirect threat to Indian media and said that India is the largest democracy on Earth with a vibrant press and freedom-loving people. The Taiwan foreign ministry’s Twitter bio states all tweets initialled “JW” are from the foreign minister.

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