New Delhi: China has expressed "surprise" at a statement issued by India after Beijing publicly claimed that Indian National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and External Affairs minister S. Jaishankar had reaffirmed support for One-China policy during talks with  Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi this week.

"For the Chinese side, the Indian side’s so-called “clarification” came as a surprise," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at the daily media briefing on Thursday (August 21).

Mao was responding to a question from from China's state media on reports of India's “clarification” over Jaishankar's remarks. While the question suggested that MEA’s ‘clarification’ only applied to Jaishankar, the press release by MEA covered both meetings and it, in general, noted that China had raised Taiwan and gave the response of the “Indian side”.

The Chinese spokesperson on Thursday claimed that Beijing finds it "inconsistent with the facts".

"It would seem that some people in India have tried to undermine China’s sovereignty on the Taiwan question and impede the improvement of China-India relations. China expresses serious concern and firmly opposes that," said Mao.

"Let me stress that there is but one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory. This is a prevailing consensus among the international community, including India," Mao added.

The Chinese spokesperson said that China hopes India will earnestly abide by the one-China principle, properly handle sensitive issues and promote the steady development of bilateral relations.

Wang, who arrived in New Delhi on Monday for a two-day visit, met Jaishankar on August 18 and Doval on August 19.

As per the official Chinese statements, Jaishankar told his Chinese counterpart that “Taiwan is a part of China” and NSA Ajit Doval told Wang that “India has always adhered to the one-China policy”.

After stating that the Chinese delegation raised the issue of Taiwan, the MEA stated, “The Indian side underlined that there was no change in its position on this issue”.

"It pointed out that, like the rest of the world, India had a relationship with Taiwan that focuses on economic, technological and cultural ties and that this would continue. The Indian side noted that China also cooperates with Taiwan in these very domains," the ministry added.

While the MEA avoided directly using the term, its statement reinforced that India continues to not maintain political or diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which is consistent with the One-China policy.

India and Taiwan have maintained representative offices in each other’s capitals since 1995, with the India-Taipei Association in Taipei and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in New Delhi.

The last time that India had publicly endorsed the ‘One China policy’ was in the joint statement during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s 2008 visit to China. However, when Premier Wen Jiabao visited India in December 2010, the phrase was absent from the joint communiqué.

India had already been irked by China’s decision to issue stapled visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh, a practice that had begun several years earlier. Tensions deepened in 2010 when China further extended its visa policy to Jammu and Kashmir and refused a visa to Northern Command chief General BS Jaswal, a move that likely prompted India to drop the ‘One China’ phrase from the joint statement.

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