India’s MEA hits back at Chinese Embassy — ‘There’s free media in India,’ says spokesperson

• The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson hit back at the Chinese Embassy for its open letter asking Indian media to refrain from covering Taiwan’s National Day celebration.
• “There's free media in India that reports on issues as it sees fit," said spokesperson Anurag Srivastava.
• The open letter asked Indian media to honour the ‘One China’ narrative.

After the Chinese Embassy issued a notice to Indian media to refrain from covering Taiwan’s National Day celebrations, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has hit back.

“There's free media in India that reports on issues as it sees fit," said spokesperson Anurag Srivastava during the press briefing today evening on October 8.

In its open letter, the Chinese Embassy told the Indian media not to recognise Taiwan’s National Day (October 10) and called for them to honour the commitment to ‘One-China’ policy. “The Chinese Embassy would like to remind our media friends that there is only one China in the world… Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory,” it wrote.

The letter even irked the Taiwanese authorities. The country’s Foreign Ministry hit back on Twitter, asking China to ‘get lost.’

The Chinese government’s diktat came in after two Delhi-based newspapers carried full-page advertisements issued by the Taiwanese government featuring the slogan, “Taiwan and India are natural partners.”

What some are calling an ‘indirect threat’ by the Chinese Embassy comes amid India-China border tensions in Ladakh. The eighth round of military-level talks between the two sides is scheduled on October 12.

Even as both the countries agree not to escalate the border impasse any further, disengagement is yet to occur. The standoff has been in place for nearly six months now, with the Asian giants sending in supplies for troops as they prepare for sub-zero winters of the Himalayas.

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