Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said he looks forward to closer ties with Taiwan in a social media post responding directly to President William Lai (賴清德).
Modi thanked Lai, who congratulated him on X his third straight election victory and touted the “fast-growing” India-Taiwan partnership that would contribute to the peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.
“I look forward to closer ties as we work towards mutually beneficial economic and technological partnership,” Modi responded.
Photo: EPA-EFE
In a statement on Wednesday, Presidential Office spokesperson Kuo Ya-hui (郭雅慧) said Lai sincerely congratulated the Indian government and people for completing the parliamentary vote through a democratic process.
Lai said he hoped the Indian government led by Modi would push for its policies smoothly and boost prosperity in the country, Kuo said.
As India is one of Taiwan’s important partners and shares its democratic values, their collaboration has been strengthened over the past few years, Kuo added.
Lai hoped the two partners would continue to work closely via economic, technology, education and cultural exchanges to forge closer ties, Kuo said.
The president also wished that based on the existing solid foundation of their relationship, the two countries would make contributions to democracy, peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, she said.
India and Taiwan have been forging closer economic ties under Modi, with the two sides planning a labor-supply pact that could see Taiwan hire as many as 100,000 Indian workers.
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
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