The Taiwan-India Cooperation Council (TICC), a private organization with participation from businesses, the government and academics, was established yesterday in Taipei, with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chair-man Yu Shyi-kun elected as its first chairman.
The council aims to act as a bridge to promote economic exchanges and broader cooperation on bilateral interests between Taiwan and India.
Yu said that the council's founding grows out of the government's "Go South" policy, which was proposed during Yu's tenure as premier.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The policy emphasizes India as an ideal investment destination for Taiwanese businesses and as a way to decrease their reliance on the China market alone.
"India is seen as having the best potential among the four golden `BRIC' [Brazil, Russia, India and China] countries. Besides, Taiwan and India's collaboration in software and hardware and India's overall economic takeoff will provide even more opportunities for Taiwan-India economic and trade cooperation," Yu said.
Yu said the idea to promote closer Taiwan-India exchanges is in line with the Indian government's "Look East policy," which overlaps with Taiwan's "Go South Policy."
Brigadier Arun Sahgal, the deputy director of India's United Service Institution, who formerly served in India's defense department, attended the council's founding ceremony yesterday. He said the council provides a channel for India to reach out to East Asia, a policy the Indian government has been working toward in recent years.
"India's `Look East Policy' engages mostly with Southeast Asia, but India is looking for much greater engagement with East Asia. It is in this context that our relationship with Taiwan is extremely important. We would like to use our new-found confidence and new-found economic development model to engage to a much greater degree with Taiwan," Sahgal said.
Commenting on the possibility of extending cooperation beyond economic matters, Sahgal said "as our economic interests in Taiwan increase, we'll be [more] interested and involved in the security and stability of the region."
Sahgal added that India would certainly pursue more strategic dialogue with Taiwan as its exchanges increase.
"Once we have the trade, we'll develop our interests in the security and safety of Taiwan to protect our own trade," he said.
Dilip Amarnani, a businessman and director of Taipei's Indian Overseas Compatriot Association, said yesterday that an important business opportunity that India offers, in contrast to China, is its strong middle-class market comprising 300 million citizens -- a convincing point for Taiwanese businesspeople, who wouldn't have to seek other export markets as much as they have to do with their operations in China.
"When the Taiwanese go to China, they are going to produce goods to export. You are not sure whether you'll find a market there. But in India, you already have a market within India itself. You don't have to look around for other markets," Amarnani said.
The amount of Taiwan-India bilateral trade reached US$1.93 billion in 2004, which is five times more than the 1990 bilateral trade figures.
The bilateral cooperation projects are mainly in the high-tech sector. There are now more than 1,000 Indian engineers in Taiwan.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner