This article delves into the strategic benefits that deepening ties with Taiwan can offer India, exploring a new era in Indo-Taiwan relations that prioritizes mutual growth and stability.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) leader Lai Ching-te emerged victorious, along-with his running mate Hsiao Bi khim, in the January 2024 Presidential elections in the island nation of Taiwan. This event, though seemingly inconsequential for India and most Indians, offers profound possibilities for reshaping India’s long-term geopolitical and strategic interests.
After his victory, President-elect Lai “thanked the people of Taiwan for demonstrating to the world that the country is committed to democracy”.
As the largest democracy in the planet, and also as the “Mother of Democracy”, India ought to celebrate and extend moral support to the democratic values and traditions of Taiwan. To be sure, realpolitik and modern geo-politics is not based on idealism or morality; hence I proffer some logical reasons as to why New Delhi should grab this opportunity to deepen its economic and political ties with Taipei.
India, like most countries, does not formally recognise Taiwan (officially known as Republic of China). India, though, has unofficial ties with Taipei. Both India and Taiwan, natural allies in several respects, are proud, vibrant democracies; and both share democratic values, uphold human rights and the rule of law, and recognise the benefits of a rules-based international order.
A key policy implemented by Taiwan, in recent times, was the New Southbound Policy (NSP), launched by the past President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016. This policy was designed to strengthen Taipei’s relationships with the ten countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), six states in South Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The policy aims to leverage Taiwan’s cultural, educational, technological, agricultural, and economic assets to enhance Taiwan’s regional integration and promote the broader development of the Indo-Pacific region. India is one of the focus countries of the New Southbound Policy. Significantly, the launch of the NSP coincided with the emergence of the Indo-Pacific framework by several Western countries and the Act East Policy of India. Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy and India’s Act East Policy, complementary with each other, provide a solid framework for the two nations to expand cooperation in multiple areas.
Despite its pivotal and game-changing potential, the policy has, however, received limited attention in Indian media and policy circles. The reluctance and nervousness of the Indian establishment to openly engage with Taiwan could be explained primarily due to concerns related to China’s reaction. The China factor has always loomed large over the possibilities in the India-Taiwan relations. However, NSP has provided India with a vital avenue to establish stronger and deeper trade, economic and other cooperation and linkages with Taiwan.
The current world geo-political order is undergoing seismic shifts, with the Indo-Pacific emerging as a major global theatre of power play. Taiwan, formerly known as “Formosa”, translated as “Beautiful Island”, has, perhaps, now become the most significant epicentre of geopolitical tensions in the Indo-Pacific. Its geo-strategic location, its status as the world’s leading manufacturer of semiconductors, the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) increased belligerence, expansionist policies and aggression to annex the island nation and the US determination to support Taiwan in its strategic rivalry with PRC have made the incredibly beautiful island a central geo-political flashpoint.
Where does India fit in this puzzle? How should it leverage the given context to have a re-look at the India-Taiwan relationship to further our own national interest? Taiwanese diplomats often complain about India’s diffidence in building ties with Taiwan, and characterize the relationship as a series of missed opportunities. Their concern is that India’s approach seems to be “one step forward, two steps backward”. There is merit to this concern, because India’s engagement with Taiwan seems almost completely driven by its own relationship with China. India has largely seen the Indo-Taiwan relationship from a Chinese lens. May 20th offered a unique opportunity to de hyphenate our relationship with Taiwan from our relationship with China, and the opportunity to devise a long-term Indo-Taiwan strategy to engage Taiwan.
Sure enough, there has been significant interest in and support for Taiwan within India, since the deadly clashes in the Galwan valley on the Tibet-India border, New Delhi should leverage this development. Even the political class is urging for a more broad-based and muscular policy towards Taiwan. In 2018, India’s Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs urged the government to reconsider its “deferential foreign policy towards China.” If China was unwilling to reconsider its stance on outstanding border issues and sovereignty concerns, India should “contemplate using all options including its relations with Taiwan,” it said.
It is rather unfortunate that there are no inter-Parliamentary dialogues or exchanges between the two democracies. There, possibly, could not be a more opportune moment to restore regular political interactions. The India-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Forum, established in 2016, aimed at promoting mutually beneficial collaboration and exchanges between the two sides. However parliamentary visits are largely ad hoc. The last Parliamentary visit from India to Taiwan was in 2016. The last parliamentary visit from Taiwan to India was by an all-women parliamentary delegation in 2017, under the framework of this Friendship Forum.
Upon the invitation of the Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the author visited Taiwan in October 2022 and October 2023 to participate in the Taiwan National Day celebrations. These visits, though in a personal capacity, carried huge political traction in Taipei, and was widely reported in Taiwanese media. It could be seen as yet another positive step in the relationship between two vibrant democracies.
In May 2020, two Indian MPs virtually attended the newly elected President Tsai’s swearing in ceremony and hailed Taiwanese democracy. This signaled a strengthening of relations between the Tsai and Modi administrations. India should have sent a Parliamentary delegation to be part of the official inauguration ceremony of President Lai on 20th May, which was attended by legislators and representatives from 29 countries, including those from Taiwan’s last 12 diplomatic allies.
New Delhi should act fast with its diplomatic offensive. Taipei is keen and eager to extend a warm reception. The partnership between India and Taiwan, rooted in democratic values, could be a defining partnership and should continue to broaden and deepen across trade, economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties. This is India’s Taiwan moment, and its leaders would be wise to seize it.
Sujeet Kumar is a Member of Parliament and the Chair of the Rajya Sabha Petitions Committee.