chinapost.com.tw
CNA
November 28, 2015
NEW DELHI — Taiwan’s representative to India on Friday criticized mainland Chinese diplomats in Kolkata as “rude” and “disrespectful” after they broke into a cemetery where some Republic of China soldiers who fought in World War II are buried.
Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) stressed that the cemetery, located in Ramgarh, was built by the R.O.C. government with the permission of the Indian government. It is maintained and managed with the help of Taiwanese expatriates in India and is not under the control of India’s Ministry of Defense, he said.
He said that during World War II, the R.O.C. military was asked by the Allied forces to deploy soldiers to India, which he said is a historical fact that no one can change.
Without informing the cemetery’s managers, the mainland Chinese diplomats intruded into the cemetery along with a large group of people, as well as armed Indian soldiers, which was “reckless, rude and disrespectful,” and unhelpful to the development of cross-Taiwan Strait relations, he said.
He said the government welcomes overseas Chinese to pay their respects to the deceased soldiers, but will reject any moves that “carry political implications.”
According to reports, Ma Zhanwu, mainland China envoy in Kolkata, recently went to Ramgarh to attend a business meeting. On Nov. 25, he led his colleagues and a group of Chinese businessmen to break into the cemetery, which is usually kept locked, to pay their respects to the soldiers.
