The massive electoral victory of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Indian parliamentary elections has marked the beginning of a new India. While boosting developmental works will be one of the most important priorities of the Modi government, enhancing India’s ties with the rest of the world, and thereby carving a special position for New Delhi at the regional and global levels, would be another top interest.
In doing so, Modi should further make efforts to improve ties with Taiwan.
In the past five years, India under his leadership has taken several initiatives to enhance its relations with East and Southeast Asian countries including Taiwan.
The first sign of this move was visible when Tien Chung-kwang (田中光), the representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in New Delhi, was invited to the swearing-in ceremony of the Modi government in 2014.
Later, Taiwan’s then-deputy minister of economic affairs was invited to attend the “Vibrant Gujarat” conference in 2015. Ignoring China’s objection, India welcomed a delegation of three Taiwanese lawmakers.
At the same time, the Modi government’s Act East policy and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) government’s New Southbound Policy have the common elements of bilateral and regional importance.
More importantly, while India wants to foster more economic ties with Taiwan and other countries of the region, Taipei is looking for attractive markets to invest in and reduce its dependance on China.
This realization between the two sides has witnessed significant development in the sphere of trade and commerce. A pact signed in December 2017 institutionalizing cooperation in areas including engineering, product manufacturing, and research and development, should further boost their engagement.
In 2014, the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association and the Taipei Computer Association signed a memorandum to promote local manufacturing in the field of semiconductors and electronics.
In August 2015, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, known abroad as Foxconn, one of the largest hardware manufacturers in the world, announced an investment of US$5 billion in India.
China Steel has also proposed making a US$180 million investment in India.
CPC Corp, Taiwan has proposed a US$6 billion investment in India, which would surely boost the “Make in India” program in the petrochemical industry.
The first Taiwan Expo was held at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi from May 17 to 19 last year. A total of 130 Taiwanese exhibitors showcased their latest technologies, products and services, with products ranging from information and communications technology, electric vehicles, auto parts and fasteners to medical devices, health and personal care, textiles, food and beverage and home products.
Taiwan has the potential to help India in sectors including hardware manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, mine exploration, electronic manufacturing, logistics, automobiles, food processing and others.
However, the biggest obstacle is India’s lukewarm attitude toward Taiwan. No high-ranking officials at the Indian Ministry of Finance, let alone the minister of finance, have visited Taiwan. No efforts have been made to institutionalize economic ties between the two sides.
At the same time, India being so large in terms of size and other aspects, the Taiwanese business community faces challenges in having a better understanding of the Indian market.
Thus, when New Delhi and Taipei have shared interests in cementing economic relations, India should think of taking some bold initiatives to build a strong and durable structural foundation.
In doing so, the first step that the two sides should take would be to sign a free-trade agreement. The two countries should also create an annual meeting of chief executive officers. These and other structural efforts would surely boost India-Taiwan economic cooperation.
At a time when India has added the security and military elements to its Act East policy and established the Indo-Pacific desk at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, indicating its ardent desire to pay a vital role in promoting peace, security and stability in the region, New Delhi could take some concrete measures to foster security with India.
Taiwan is one of the leading countries in the fields of education, medicine and tourism.
However, Taiwan is not so much known in India. Similarly, India is the land where Buddhism originated and spread to all over the world, including Taiwan, yet very few Taiwanese travel to India.
Efforts should be made to intensify people-to-people contacts, which would certainly change the face of the bilateral engagement.
Finally, when these and other factors have the potential to strengthen ties between Taiwan and India, the China factor should not be allowed to dictate the direction of Taiwan-India ties.
Sumit Kumar is a former Ministry of Foreign Affairs visiting fellow at National Chengchi University and a research fellow at the Maulana Azad Institute of Asian Studies in Kolkata, India.
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