Boosting exchanges with India would be prioritized in the government’s New Southbound Policy, as the US is actively engaging India in its Indo-Pacific strategy to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a Cabinet official said on Saturday.
The New Southbound Policy covers 18 nations: the 10 ASEAN members, six South Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand.
Among South and Southeast Asian countries, India is the only one that dares voice its opposition to China, and it is an important actor in the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy, which has prompted the Executive Yuan to pay more attention to the country in its regional and diplomatic work, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Many Indian graduates in the areas of science and technology have visited Taiwan for internships or work, with many engineers working in Taiwan’s science parks, the official said, adding that Taiwan and India could further advance talent exchanges in related areas.
However, bilateral interactions this year have been limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as the outbreak in India remains severe, the official said.
This year’s planned exhibition on Taiwan-India exchanges under the New Southbound Policy has been transformed into a virtual event and delayed until Dec. 16 to 18, the official added.
India-China relations have been tense since soldiers from the two sides clashed along the Line of Actual Control in May.
Repeated attempts by the Chinese embassy in New Delhi to intervene with the Indian media, including a demand that they respect Beijing’s “one China principle” when covering Taiwan’s Double Ten National Day celebrations, have backfired.
Taiwan-India ties are promising, said Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中), who manages the New Southbound Policy, when asked about an upsurge of anti-China and pro-Taiwan sentiment in India.
Asked about the Cabinet official’s remark that India ties would be prioritized, Deng said that every country covered by the policy is important and that Taiwan-India relations have greatly improved over the past few years.
Citing an example, Deng said that Taiwan in 2018 renewed a bilateral trade agreement with India following only a year of negotiations.
It shows that New Delhi attaches great importance to Taiwan’s investment environment, as it tends to conduct longer negotiations with other countries before signing an investment agreement, he said.
Taiwan has attracted many high-tech professionals from India, while some Taiwanese tech giants have invested in India, he said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS