It is important for the world and especially Beijing to realise that for all intents and purposes Taiwan is an independent state where the writ of a democratically elected government runs.

While as a result of treaty obligations or other considerations, many countries may recognise only the regime in Beijing, the reality of Taiwan being an entity that does not accept it is a part of China cannot be wished away. It is in this context that China’s repeated provocations must be viewed by the global community. In the past few weeks, Chinese fighter jets have regularly crossed the mid-line of the Taiwan Strait, which is the traditional buffer between the mainland and the island. In a report to the country’s parliament, Taiwan’s defence ministry has said its air force was forced to scramble 4,132 times this year, 129 per cent more than all last year, after Chinese fighter aircraft encroached into Taiwan’s air zone.

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The report, cited by a news agency, says China is “trying to use unilateral military actions to change the security status quo in the Taiwan Strait, and at the same time is testing our response, increasing pressure on our air defences and shrinking our space for activity.”‘

It adds that these incursions have been accompanied by other targeted actions. In short, the fragile peace in the region is one itchy trigger-burst away from degenerating into violence. Should that happen, and all sensible people must hope it does not, the world should know that China was responsible.

Citing a historical claim over the territory is insufficient justification for seeking to change the status quo after 70 years of co-existence.

If China’s actions are belligerent, its reasons are condescending. For Beijing claims to be angered by increasing American support for Taiwan, by itself a non sequitur. It has expressed its opposition to visits by senior US officials to Taipei, which is surprising given that as long back as 2001, then President George W Bush had gone as far as to say that should China attack Taiwan, the US had an obligation to defend the latter. In the years after World War II, Washington and Taipei have shared a warm relationship although the need to engage with China had forced the US to redefine it.

Under President Trump, the relationship has become significantly stronger and his administration in 2018 passed the Taiwan Travel Act which allows high level diplomatic engagement between Taiwanese and American officials and encourages visits between the two. While Beijing had reacted angrily to this enactment, its anger was restricted to harsh words until the world became consumed with the virus epidemic.

That is when its rhetoric made way for provocative military actions. India especially ought to feel empathy for Taiwan, caught as it too is in the vortex of China’s territorial claims, and such empathy must find tangible expression