The Chinese mainland should keep a wary eye on Taiwan for signs of colluding with India to pose a joint threat, warned Zhang Hua, a staff columnist for
Huaxia.com, a Beijing-based news website specializing in Taiwan-related reporting.
Zhang said Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen and the Indian government have a shared lack of trust in the Chinese mainland, which may serve as a strategic foundation for their claimed “natural alliance.” India’s hostility against the Chinese mainland has been proposed in Taiwan as a major reason for developing relations with India, according to Zhang, while India is also believed to be using Taiwan as a chip to balance the Chinese mainland’s relationship with Pakistan, especially over the Kashmir disputes.
Even though people-to-people communications have remained inactive, the two sides started intimate exchanges long ago on an official level, Zhang said. The Indian government is found to be breaking the “One China” protocol by allowing minister-level exchanges with the island, he said.
On the other hand, Zhang said, the two sides have had noticeable exchanges of military information. George Fernandes, India’s former national defense minister, visited the island multiple times, while Taiwan was also invited to participate in the Raisina Dialogue, the Indian version of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, according to Zhang. Known as the “backdoor plan,” Taiwan also used to set up a wiretap facilities in India to obtain information from the mainland, Zhang said.