SPEAKING
FREELY India renews Taiwan
embrace By Anindya Batabyal
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please
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Although India
recognizes the government of the People's Republic
of China (mainland China) instead of the
government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) as
the legitimate government of the territory of
China, relations between India and Taiwan have
grown substantially since the two countries had
set up representative offices in each other's
capitals in 1995.
The economic imperatives
of India's Look East policy initiated since the
early 1990s led to the establishment of bilateral
ties that year through the opening of unofficial
consular offices named as "Cultural Centers" in
both New Delhi and Taipei. India's foray into
Northeast Asia started to take place at the same
time that the
government in Taiwan was
actively trying to diversify its international
economic linkages away from mainland China, which
accounts for more than two-thirds of its overseas
investments, and more towards Southeast Asia and
beyond. It is against this backdrop that there has
occurred a substantial progress in bilateral ties
between India and Taiwan in the last one decade.
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou's brief
stopover at Mumbai where his plane landed for
refueling on his way to three African countries in
April 2012 further reflected substantial progress
in India-Taiwan bilateral ties in the last few
years. It is significant that President Ma's
flight was scheduled to refuel at Dubai and the
change to Mumbai was only announced at the last
minute. India's decision to allow refueling of
President Ma's plane at Mumbai comes at a time
when relations between mainland China and Taiwan
are at their warmest in the last 63 years.
India's rapid economic growth has of-late
outpaced that of Japan and even the United States,
demonstrating its strong potential for
development. India, the largest country in South
Asia is also one of the five BRICS (Brazil,
Russia, India, China and South Africa). Therefore,
Taiwan attaches great importance to its relations
with an emerging power like India. It is also
important to note in this connection that there
exists a strong political consensus within Taiwan
on the importance of forging a robust partnership
with India in future as part of Taiwan's overall
global strategy. This was stated by Taiwan's
former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
chairperson Tsai Ing-wen during her trip to India
in September.
Since the establishment of
representative offices in each other's capitals in
1995, there has been a steady growth in the
overall facets of India-Taiwan bilateral ties,
particularly in the economic arena. Two-way trade
has jumped from US$930 million in 1995 to $7.5
billion in 2011. One of the areas for enhancing
further cooperation is the information technology
(IT) sector where both India and Taiwan complement
each other. India is also a major manufacturing
centre for automobiles and a world leader in small
car production.
According to the
India-Taipei association, Taiwan's strength is in
auto components and the manufacturers from these
two countries can team up to create better
products. There is also a possibility of signing a
Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and
Taiwan sometime later in 2012 and a feasibility
study for reaching such an agreement has begun in
February 2012. For Taiwan, it appears that India
constitutes a huge market waiting to be explored.
However, from 2001 to 2010, India
accounted for only 0.04% of all Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) in Taiwan, while only 0.03% of
Taiwanese outgoing investments went to South Asia.
Compared with Taiwan's overall trade of almost $70
billion with the Southeast Asian countries and
around $200 billion with mainland China, there
lies ample scope for further development of
India-Taiwan trade ties. In fact, China has
emerged as Taiwan's largest trade partner while
Taiwan has become China's seventh-largest. But the
Taiwan government is also encouraging its business
enterprises to invest more in India, an emerging
economic powerhouse, instead of putting all their
eggs in one basket. Increasing investments in
countries like India is expected to lessen
Taiwan's dependence on the Chinese market.
Opinion is divided among scholars,
particularly in India, on the reasons behind the
recent upsurge in bilateral ties between India and
Taiwan. One view is that the present bonhomie
between India and Taiwan is a result of improved
cross-strait relations, which have never been as
cordial as they are at the present moment.
Since Ma Ying Jeou of the Kuomintang
became president in March 2008, his
administration's cross-strait' policy has resulted
in reduced tensions between China and Taiwan,
which had a knock-on effect on India's policy
towards Taiwan. President Ma's administration's
efforts include its push for closer cross-strait
economic ties, increasing the frequency of flights
between China and Taiwan, allowing independent
minded Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan and
Taipei's signing of the Economic Cooperation
Framework Agreement with China.
However,
there is also another view which sees the growing
relations as part of an Indian strategy to
challenge China diplomatically. For example, India
has entered the fray in the South China Sea
dispute, infuriating China, by agreeing to
undertake last year joint oil exploration in a
disputed area with Vietnam. Moreover, in November
2011, the scheduled meeting of the India-China
boundary talks was suddenly cancelled as India
refused to budge on the issue of allowing Tibetan
spiritual leader Dalai Lama to address the world
congregation of Buddhists at New Delhi.
China was unhappy because the dates of the
Buddhist congregation coincided with the dates of
the Sino-Indian boundary talks. The stand taken by
the Indian government is significant because in
the past few decades, India had taken special care
to make sure that it does not do anything to
antagonizes the Chinese government, particularly
on issues like Taiwan and Tibet.
Moreover,
a quiet diplomatic competition has also emerged
between India and China in the last few years over
the Chinese policy of issuing visas to Indian
citizens domiciled in Jammu and Kashmir and
Arunachal Pradesh. By issuing or denying visas
particularly to Indian citizens domiciled in the
Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh, China has
tried to put a question mark over the territorial
status of both Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal
Pradesh.
However, India in recent times
has tried in a subtle way to send a message to
China that it will be less sensitive to Chinese
interests including matters related to Taiwan and
Tibet if China does not show the required
sensitivity towards India's core interests on
matters concerning Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal
Pradesh. Therefore, cultivating closer links with
Taiwan is part of the overall Indian strategy to
counter growing Chinese attempts to put political
and strategic pressure by needling India on the
sensitive issues like Jammu and Kashmir and
Arunachal Pradesh. A section of the academic
community and national security establishment in
India is of the view that India needs to cultivate
closer ties with Taiwan in order to counter
China's consistent policy of strategically
encircling India through building intimate
economic and military ties with countries like
Pakistan and Myanmar.
Taiwan and India
have made significant progress over the past few
years, with collaborative measures in the field of
education, economy and culture. In addition, India
hosted several high ranking Taiwanese delegations
including several top ranking Taiwanese officials.
In line with this view, India's foreign policy has
become more assertive in recent times in the face
of pressure from China without in any way
violating its long held one-China policy.
Therefore, India's consent to the visit of
many Taiwanese political leaders in India in
recent times including allowing President Ma's
brief stopover at Mumbai in April 2012 signified
India's desire to expand exchanges with Taiwan in
various sectors and to enhance bilateral ties
irrespective of its impact on India's bilateral
relations with China.
It appears that
India's close bilateral ties with Taiwan at
present are a result of both improved China-Taiwan
ties while also reflecting a new level of
assertiveness in India's foreign policy towards
China. It has also been said in some quarters that
India is likely to become one of the most
important partners in Taiwan's global strategic
arrangement regardless of which political party
remains in power in Taiwan.
In fact,
improved cross-strait relations have only acted as
a catalyst for the present upsurge in India-Taiwan
bilateral ties. In this respect, it will be
interesting to see the kind of policy India adopts
towards Taiwan when China-Taiwan ties deteriorate
at any time in the foreseeable future. However,
there are strong indications about a desire on
part of both sides to become more knowledgeable
about each other in diverse areas and this could
lay the foundation for the consolidation of the
symbiotic partnership that is emerging between
India and Taiwan at the beginning of the 21st
century.
Anindya Batabyal is an
assistant professor at the Department of Political
Science, University of Kalyani, West Bengal,
India. His research publications have appeared in
peer-reviewed academic journals including
International Studies and China Report.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online
feature that allows guest writers to have their
say.Please
click hereif you are interested in
contributing. Articles submitted for this section
allow our readers to express their opinions and do
not necessarily meet the same editorial standards
of Asia Times Online's regular contributors.
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