India on Tuesday asserted that there was no change in New Delhi’s position on Taiwan after China on Monday claimed that external affairs minister S. Jaishankar had told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that “Taiwan is part of China”.

“The Chinese side raised the issue of Taiwan. 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 external affairs ministry said in its readout on Tuesday evening after the conclusion of Wang’s meetings in New Delhi, including with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In Delhi since Monday for the 24th meeting of the special representatives of India and China on the boundary question, Wang had met Jaishankar, along with the two delegations, on Monday evening.

A Grok translation of the past-midnight readout put out by the Chinese foreign office in Mandarin said Jaishankar told Wang that “Taiwan is part of China”, triggering speculation of a shift in India’s position at a time when the world is in flux.

China insists that countries adhere to its “One China Policy”. Though officially India subscribes to the policy, it stopped iterating this around 2010 in response to Beijing issuing stapled visas to residents of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh.

In 2022, when China kept tabs on such affirmations to the One China Policy by countries and multilateral organisations amid escalation in tensions over Taiwan, Delhi refused to fall in line, maintaining that “India’s relevant policies are well-known and consistent. They do not require reiteration”.